Hidden Brilliance
by The Magic Number
Summary: Everything was normal in Domino, until the immortals started interfering. Jou has a lot to do to stop his real identity being discovered – especially with Kaiba Seto on the job! He'll have to use/not use all his skills to hold onto his disguise!
1. Chapter 1

**A/N Hey everybody this is the first story I've written in a long while! I hope it pleases, and that you enjoy the story!**

**CHAPTER 1.**

"_... And we finish the news with the announcement of Domino Museum's new exhibit...click"_

Pheobus Apollo woke up.

Removing his arm from the now silent alarm clock, he lazily, but gracefully padded across the cramped room, towards the relatively cleaner bathroom.

Sauntering into the room, he gazed into the mirror, Pheobus was greeted with the image he had been _very_ familiar with for a _very_ long time. Bright golden eyes reflected back into his, and roamed around the glass, taking in his glowing slightly tanned skin, covering his perfectly formed body, and covered by the unruly golden locks upon his head – mortals were correct in calling him Aegletes or 'The Radiant'. However this was not the form he wished to be in at that minute, and just as the sun is eclipsed by the moon; darkened and hidden, but still retaining full power, its light continually licking round the surface, never tamed: so was the brilliance brushed away, removing the tell-tale glow and the flashing eyes of the immortal.

In its place was a fairly good looking youth, but definitely mortal. The locks, though just as unruly, lacked the godly glow and were easily tamed by the brush he ran through them. The skin had also lost its unearthly shine and become pale and humanly flawed with a dusting of uneven freckles. But it were the eyes that held the greatest change, no longer fathomless and prophetic, they merely shone with a human knowledge and human tiredness. They were also brown, a mundane, common colour; in itself paralleling the hue of the fertile earth, from which the very human race was made, as ordained by the Great Father and that pitiful Titan; who endures such torment from the beaks of eagles daily.

With this transformation and inspection complete, Jou went about his daily routine to get ready for school.

* * *

It had been a few months since Yami, Bakura and Marik had arrived back unexpectedly from the afterlife. Each claiming a different reason for return, ranging from:

"Oh, well... shit place din' have the right... _requirements_ to be any fun," to:

"I couldn't leave my Aibou unprotected, the shadows are restless."

And while their 're-arrival' irked _all_ of Jou's principles, starting with his... affinity... for space – more importantly his powers of management with the space between mortals and the divine, of which rising from the dead definitely fell into the divine category – he was happy to see them, regardless of how, and _who_, had returned them. Life in Domino soon grew peaceful...well, as peaceful as it can be with three returned spirits, their partners, enemies and friends all attending the same high school.

And it was these fond thoughts that followed along with Jounouchi Katsuya, or "Just 'Jou'!" as he liked to be called, as he ran to the very slowly closing gates that would mark if he was late or not.

Skidding across the tarmac, after slipping on some sort of leaflet, (Jou barely registered the words proclaiming the opening of some new exhibit at Domino Museum) he almost fell over, before manoeuvring his weight, just _so_, insuring he made it inside the school premises. Just in time.

"Lucky break Jounouchi, I'm just itchin' to give some punk a detention."

Nobouro-Sensei leaned over and grinned his gapped smile at Jou as he leaned over to give a hand to help the younger male off the floor. However threatening his words may seem, Nobouro-Sensei was well-liked around the school for his strict, but fair morals and his easy-going attitude. He'd been a friend of the Jounouchi family for years.

"Some entrance, weren't it? It's gotta be record or somethin'!" Jou grinned back as he accepted the callused hand and got back onto his feet, "I mean, this must be the earliest I've ever been in school... EVER!"

"Ha! Ha! I guess I shouldn't get used to't if tha's yer attitude!" The old man's great grin faded slightly as he properly looked Jou in the eyes, and addressed the real issue, "All's good then? How's it at home, yer looking after yerself now tha' your Pops has done tha' runner off to Vegas?"

"'Course." Jou, completely unaffected by the wanderings of his mortal host, looked down at his wrist-watch and his eyes practically boggled at the time, "Ah, jeez, I gotta run if I don't wanna waste my effort of actually getting in on time – catch ya later Old Geeza!" and with that he sped off, ignorant to the grumbled curses Nobouro-Sensei flung at his retreating back.

* * *

"Jou?"

The usual gang of Jou's friends looked on with decided surprise at Jou's early arrival. However, it was gentle Yugi who recovered first, his violet eyes alighting with joy seeing his friend.

"Jou, you're in early, should we be worried?" He teased, as he pulled his taller friend into one of his characteristic hugs, one that filled Jou's face with Yugi's trademark, tricoloured hair.

"Nah, just lucky today – hey, am I even in before Kaiba? Damn I am early!" This comment had Anzu punch Jou's arm in mock anger as her grey eyes narrowed and her lips twitched.

"Language Jou! And while it is surprising that Kaiba is later than usual, it doesn't mean you can use it to mock him."

"Me? Mock Kaiba? I think ya got the wrong guy here Anzu, old Moneybags starts it, not me - I react" However, before any of the rest of the gang could put their own questions or scoldings to Jou, the teacher, Chono-Sensei entered the room in her usual provocative way, her face covered in thick make-up that cracked as she called the class to attention and took the register. Yami could be seen to be visibly smirking two seats left of Jou.

"Alright class, now, because of the new exhibit opening at Domino Museum on the Ancient Greeks, we are going to start a new project for our history class. Each one of you will be paired – and _no_ Honda-kun, you cannot chose you partners, I have already chosen them for you. Anyway, I digress, each of you will be paired and given a Greek God or Goddess to research on. I expect all myths pertaining to that God or Goddess; their attributes, appearances and powers; their place in the immortal hierarchy; their cities and temples; their importance to the Ancient Greeks and finally how they influence our world today. I expect this to be done seriously, the Greeks had rather different values and ethics than we do today, and I expect maturity from all of you regarding some areas of the project. That said, have fun and here are the pairings..."

Thunk...'_Shit_'.

Jou's head hit the desk in front of him. How could he not have foreseen this? This could ruin his well-deserved holiday if his friends found out – he'd lose them. What would they say, what would they _do, _if they knew who he really was... is. They'd never treat him the same way for certain, and they'd research him and his past... this was looking really bad. If they found out about some of the things he'd done... Jou could only hope these events never, _never_ came to pass. Things could not be worse in Jou's mind.

Until they were.

"Jounouchi and Kaiba on Apollo..." a piece of paper outlining the project was placed on top of his bent head.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Hey, Guys and Gals - I suprised myself at how quickly I wrote this, but then again, I did have half of it written before I published the first chapter. I do hope your enjoying this, because I'm a bit worried since only one person reviewed... If you don't like something, or I've misspelt something, or you're confused about something - DON'T hesitate to ask me, I'll be happy to banter/agree/correct/explain whatever I need to!**

**In anycase... Enjoy Chapter 2 of Hidden Brilliance!**

**CHAPTER 2.**

"Ah man Jou, I'm so sorry you got stuck with Kaiba, I mean you even have to be 'bus-buddies' on the bus and in the museum for the trip tomorrow..."

"Save ya crap Honda, you're all just tryin' ta make me feel better after you guys all got paired together," Jou looked enviously upon the sheepish faces of his friends, only really half-listening to what they were saying. He'd joined them after being reprieved from doing any work due to Seto Kaiba still not having shown up.

"And look at the gods you lot got, '_Mutou and Atemu on Ares'_, '_Honda and Otogi on Aphrodite'_, _'Ishtar and Ishtar on Thanatos'_,_ 'Bakura and Tozokuoh_(Could you be more obvious, Bakura)_on Alecto_' and _'Mazaki and Kogano on Iris' _I mean it's not fair, your gods sound way cooler than mine!" Jou winced a little at the self-depreciating manner he had to put forward, but quickly replaced it with a giant, almost lecherous, grin, "Hey Honda, wanna swap?"

"Are you kidding, even _I _know who Aphrodite is, and no way am I going to swap her over some Apollo-dude, who I've never even heard of."

Severely put out by the unintended insult one of his own friends had dealt, Jou proceeded to imploringly look over at the others, with large round eyes and a quivering bottom lip.

"Sorry Jou, but we're all happy with our projects, we may not know who they are, but that's what this project is for. And you never know, this Apollo could turn out to be really cool and interesting!" So said Yugi, gently trying to console his friend, unknowingly causing fond feelings to well up within Jou due to his optimistic and praising nature.

"Thanks Yug'. I needed that. Still..."

"Aibou, what are these Greeks and why are their Gods so supposedly important?" Yami, although usually the more worldly knowledgeable, had such a look of innocent confusion on his face, that it would have been had to tell him and Yugi apart – were it not for the harder red eyes, the extra blond streaks running up his spiked hair, and the additional height. There was silence in the group.

"Are you serious? I mean, I may not know much about them, because of the fact I'm Japanese and Ancient Greece isn't taught in schools, but I've _heard_ of them – and what they've done – they're _everywhere_!" Honda had broken the silence to stand upon his chair and shout this at Yami, who was looking uncharacteristically shocked, "Hey, I thought that you would know the Greeks anyway, they were around at the same time, _and, _I know that eventually the Greeks conquered Egypt, so how could you not know?"

_'He just had to mention that part didn't he – idiot.' _Jou was very ready for the outrage that was soon to follow this statement.

"They did what?" Bakura had finally been awoken by Honda's rantings in an awful temper, "You hear that Pharaoh! Your precious Egypt...Mffph!-"

"Now, now, that's enough." Ryou had intervened, slamming his pale hand over Bakura's mouth, to stop him infuriating Yami more.

"Yeah, Bakura '_That's enough_'!" Marik had a look of utmost glee on his face at the sight of one of the most feared criminals to have ever lived, being hushed by such a feeble looking person. 'Looking' being the operative word as Ryou turned a darkened glare towards the former spirit.

"_Excuse me_?"

Marik started to sweat at the sheer force of Ryou's glare and opened his mouth, gaping like a fish for a few moments, before stuttering his apologies.

"Oh... eh... heh... Not that I mean anything by it, I was just suggesting that...no, not suggesting, _implying_! No, wait that's not right either... Hey isn't that Kaiba?" The rest of the group had emotions ranging from exasperation (Malik), to amusement (everyone else) during Marik's ramblings, but it was the last sentence that really caught their attention as they – as one – swivelled their heads around to see the formidable figure of Kaiba Seto. He was scowling straight at Jou, his blue eyes mere chips of ice, over the top of Chono-Sensei's head as she distractedly told him of the pairings and thrust the project paper into his hands.

It didn't take Kaiba long to stalk over to the Yugi-Tachi, and sneer his feelings on the fact that he had to _interact_ with people such as they.

"I bet you think this is funny, don't you, mutt?" Kaiba's fists clenched as he towered over the seated form of Jou, "I bet your low-class mind has already decided to not do any work and leave it all to me. But that's not going to happen. You Jounouchi, are going to be doing your fair share, because I don't have the time right now to lower myself to your standards."

Jou stood up so fast his chair fell to the floor with a clatter, his mind was enraged; filled with furor. And while he wasn't quite as tall as Kaiba, standing up was a lot better than craning his neck for intimidation,"Ya think I need ya help Money-bags! Ha! I betcha' I already know more about this project than you an' ya crappy attitude!" By he end of this speech Jou's face had fallen from its original rage into a slowly dawning horror as he realised what exactly he had just said.

"Oh, _really_?" Kaiba's eyebrow raised in a mocking gesture, "Then we'll have no problems will we, mutt... unless you were only bluffing?" A sardonic smile was now firmly plastered to his face as he looked at Jou, and Jou couldn't really blame him.

'_I walked right into that one._' Jou felt incredibly stupid, he should have known better, _'Heck! I do know better – I've been 'Jou' for close to sixteen years! I know that I shouldn't have made things more difficult for myself'_

"Yeah, 'course Money-bags! But I ain't, with my superor...superyo..._larger_ knowledge of the Ancient Greeks, gonna' do all your work either!" Jou had a rather smug grin on his face that was entirely genuine. _'There, that should throw them off!'_

"Like I need your help, idiot, you've just proven to me that I will probably find your... _superior_ knowledge sadly lacking." Kaiba shifted his weight onto the other foot as he reached out to grab Jou's collar, "In any case, mutt, we need to prepare ourselves for the field trip and for who is doing what on our project."

"Eh? Field trip? What are you talking about Money-bags?" Jou was so completely confused by this, that he didn't react to the hand trying to pull him away.

"Oh, Jou! Weren't you listening?" Yugi had an exasperated look on his face, that you knew meant he was far too used to this happening with Jou, "We've been invited to the exhibit tomorrow, isn't that great? We're apparently supposed to use the day to help with our research and get a feel for what the Ancient Greeks were really capable of!" Yugi certainly was the most excited out of the group, practically bouncing out of his seat and smiling up a storm from the very idea. The rest of the group appeared rather more controlled than Yugi, but still just as excited. Even Bakura, Yami and Marik, the self-proclaimed 'tough guys' were looking enthusiastic, well...as enthusiastic as they could.

"Yeah... great... field trip..." Jou tried to look as delighted as his friends did, even with Kaiba dragging Jou over to the other side of the classroom, but there was this nagging feeling in the back of his head, a certain apprehension, that things were going to go wrong quite quickly.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Hey guys! This chapter had a lot of research put into it - and some general knowledge from my Classics background - so reviews would be nice.**

**The next chapter will probably be Kaiba's point of view and thoughts on things, but this will probably be a one-off, since this is very Jou-centric.**

**Anyway, Enjoy!**

**CHAPTER 3.**

"This is what is happening, _you_ Jounouchi, will take half the course and I the other. You will be researching the temples, cities and myths of Apollo, and how he influences us today – _if _your canine brain can take it, that is. I will then research Apollo's powers, appearances/forms, hierarchy and importance within the Gods... Mutt! Are you listening?"

Jou, who had been tapping his pencil and vaguely looking out of the window and longingly over to his friends, jolted out of his seat at Kaiba's shout.

"AH! Yeah! 'Course... Just ... run the last bit by me 'gain?" Jou smiled roguishly to try and win some form of favour, but from the way Kaiba scowled it was obviously not working.

"You know, mutt, I don't know why I even try to speak to you like a human being, so let's try again: You. Do. Half. Work. Here. Is. Sheet."

"Oi! Kaiba, I told ya'! I ain't dumb! You want me ta' do this half – Easy! I could do't in ma sleep!" Jou snatched the paper out of Kaiba's hand and his eyes darted across the written words, "Tch! Easy!"

"Oh really, then put your money where your mouth is, so to speak, and write it down."

"Now?"

"Well, you did say you already knew the answers – go ahead and prove them to me." Jou was then deftly handed a empty sheet of lined paper from suddenly smug Kaiba.

_'Does he want to discredit me that badly? Hmm, what to choose... humiliating my 'Jou'_ _persona or one-upping that smug-faced bastard and wiping that expression off his face – permanently...'_

There was obviously only one real answer.

And so Jou picked up the pen and started writing. Under the headings of; 1)Myths, 2)Temples, 3)Cities and 4)Influence today, Jou wrote about his family history; his father, his mother, his sister Artemis and brothers Hermes and Dionysus especially as he was closest to them. He wrote about Python very briefly as well. He wrote about Troy and his beloved Trojans, and of that dog-faced coward, Agamemnon, who tried to go against him. He wrote about his lovers– Daphne, Castalia, Hecuba, Cassandra, Hyacinth and Cyparissus in particular (Jou winced at the thought of them, none of his relationships had ever really ended well). He wrote about slaying the Niobids with his sister, and of the Gigantomachy (With no small sense of pride). And lastly he wrote about his children – and his favourites; Asclepius, who was once a God himself and Orpheus.

Feeling that this was enough and slightly depressed from the memories of his long-dead boys, he moved on to the next heading: temples, where he proceeded to quickly list down the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, Apollo Epikouros in Bassae, Apollo at Aegina, at Corinth, Portara, Cyrene, Didyma, Syracuse, Apollo Hyperteleatas in Phoiniki and the Sanctuary of Apollo in Hierapolis. That last one was sure to raise to eyebrows of that bastard.

Seeing that his pen was running out of ink, he switched to his pencil – which he saw was blunt. Under the aggravated eyes of Kaiba, he slowly, very, very slowly sharpened it and then resumed writing the last half of his part of the project.

Jou went on to write down his cities; of Delphi and Delos especially, but also of the same places his temples were in and of others like; Abae, Clarus, Segesta, Khyrse, Orophus and even the obscure Labadea and Hieraplois Bambyce. (Jou shocked even himself, by remembering all those places after all this time, and their time out of use.)

So close now to finishing, Jou rushed ahead to the slightly more difficult task of putting onto paper all the things that had taken inspiration from his name. Well, the Apollo Lunar Programme of NASA was a start. Then there were all those paintings and sculptures mortals had made of his 'image' (though none had ever gotten close to depicting his true form – he was _so_ much better looking – and that was not just the vanity of a god talking either) alone that he didn't bother mentioning the ones with all his family or all of them in general – for one he was running out of space on the other side of the paper. Music that had been inspired by him, new and old, came next. As well as the Apollo theatre in London, there were many other buildings – sometimes so random – that had his name on them. Jou only put a few down, he wanted to impress Kaiba, not make him suspicious.

The class bell rang, signalling the end of the lesson, just as Jou finished. He left it there for Kaiba to take, as he went to leave the room for his next lesson: maths.

"Hope that's good 'nuff for ya' Money-bags, I know I got everythin' down."

Kaiba looked suitably gob-smacked. Enough so, that Jou was really starting to think that the day would end better than it began.

With that thought he ran out the classroom.

* * *

Jou slammed his apartment door with a bang, threw his shoes somewhere and stalked over to his bedroom.

_'Fuck this, I haven't been this pissed since world war two, and that's saying something!'._

His day had not gone better after showing off to Kaiba.

Kaiba had started to shadow him during lunch with incredibly narrowed eyes and a firm frown.

_'Geez, you show show intelligence to that man and he automatically believes the apocalypse is coming.'_

His mood was little better upon arrival to his room. Still in a funk, Jou flung open his white cupboard doors and reached inside his closet to rummage around for his most prized possession, all the while throwing random objects out, like one old tennis shoe and a broken dual disk. But then there it was. Just as it has always been – sort of. It had been a constant in Apollo's life and now 'Jou''s, but it was also ever changing.

At first it was a simple lyre given to him by his favourite brother, Hermes, made of simple wood and tortoise shell. But as the times changed and instruments changed, so did his lyre. It had been many things like a violin, a viola, a harp, a guitar, a sitar, a banjo, a cello, a fiddle, a diyingehu, a gehu, a gunjac, a haegeum, an igil, a kokyū, an octobass, a tro, a lirone and even a nyckelharpa, but right now it was as close to the original as it had ever been, being a very sleek and classy (if Jou could say so himself) guitar-lyre. Its body and fretboard were a shiny black, and the edges were gilded in gold, with gold volutes. The sound-hole was decorated with even more gold round the edges and had decorative swirls reaching out to the sides of the body – like rays around the sun. But it was within the sound-hole that attracted the most attention. The solid gold crescent moon that hung there, seemingly unsupported, in the darkness with only a small golden globe between its points for company. And finally, at the top of the fretboard, where the headstock would be, was the golden face of his beloved mother. What could Jou say, gold was most definitely his colour.

And it was simple things like these subtle symbols, that reminded him of his family – and kept him from ever doing anything too outrageous. Like off-ing Kaiba Corp's young CEO.

It was also the simple things, like strumming his instrument in a simple rendition of 'Hurrian Hymn No.6 ', that reminded him of who he really was and what he could really do, when he wasn't _playing_ human. When he wasn't pretending to be weak, and mortal, and tolerant, and ... and ...and... It was entirely inappropriate for keeping the Jou persona in place.

Jou stopped the music completely.

He frowned thoughtfully, until determination filled him. Hehad _promised_ himself that he would live like semi-normal human. (Because how normal could you be if you were friends with a resurrected Pharaoh, Tomb raider and random malevolent spirit and played children's card games that just _happened_ to summon dangerous monsters.) And how normal is it being able to play the lyre(guitar-lyre in this case) like a the most talented native?(which he was) Not very.

And so with a heavy heart, Jou slowly stroked his faithful companion, placed it back into the haphazard cupboard, locked its doors and crawled into bed.

_Sometimes_, Jou thought, _this vacation feels like it really isn't worth it._


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N Heya, I put up anther story earlier this week, but I just didn't like where it was going... bleh! I'll re-do it, then post it up, with a different name. It needs it.**

**But I'm just mentioning this to shw that I'm alsways thinking up ideas and will finish a story once I start it properly. Anyway, I hope you like this story, I don't really know since people aren't REVIEWING!**

**I need to know what you like or dislike - I need to know that this isn't a waste of my time! I have confidence issues. So thanks to all those who have reviewed - you know who you are: WoNdY Alice, Tales from within and AtomBunny!**

**Oh well, ENJOY!**

**CHAPTER 4.**

Things could not be worse in Kaiba Seto's mind.

First of all he'd been stuck in that God-forsaken meeting far longer than he should have been. If the idiots couldn't do their jobs properly, what was the point of having them there in the first place?

Regardless, their ineptitude had led to his tardiness and now he had to work with the mutt on some stupid and pointless history project. Glaring at Chono-Sensei didn't help either, she just shrugged it off. At least it made Jounouchi flinch, a fact that _did_ make him feel better.

_'Stupid mutt, I bet he thinks this is hilarious_.'

And he told Jou so when he approached him. What could he say? His patience was thin enough already and being stared at by a bunch of second-rate duellists (plusYugi)did not help his temper.

He readied himself into full-on intimidation-mode as he leaned over the mutt, at least he could still get his kicks from tormenting Jounouchi.

"I bet your low-class mind has already decided to not do any work and leave it all to me. But that's not going to happen. You Jounouchi, are going to be doing your fair share, because I don't have the time right now to lower myself to your standards." It was true, he didn't have the time. He didn't have the time for Jounouchi, his gang, their idea of 'fun', school and even sadly time for his brother Mokuba; there was just far too much to do with his company. And as those incompetent imbeciles proved – he couldn't leave a job to his subordinates if he wanted it done right. He now had to re-do the entire presentation for Kaiba Land to his investors, because some _idiot, _who now no longer works at Kaiba Corp, couldn't do it right in the first place!

His mental rant over, he realised that Jounouchi had stood up, and although Kaiba was still a lot taller, in the right light, somebody may have found him intimidating.

"Ya think I need ya help Money-bags! Ha! I betcha' I already know more about this project than you an' ya crappy attitude!"

Well, that was new.

And very funny, it was just like the mutt to put himself in a place he couldn't dig his way out of. Jounouchi's face showed he knew this all too well.

"Oh, _really_?" Kaiba's eyebrow raised, _'Lets see you work out of this one,'_ this was going to be good. "Then we'll have no problems will we, mutt... unless you were only bluffing?" A sardonic smile was now firmly plastered to his face as he looked at the mutt – he really couldn't help it, this day actually seemed to be getting better!

"Yeah, 'course Money-bags! But I ain't, with my superor...superyo..._larger_ knowledge of the Ancient Greeks, gonna' do all you work either!" The smug smile on Jounouchi's face was almost, dare he say it, cute in its stupidity. Kaiba was going to rip him to shreds – there was no return for Jounouchi now.

"Like I need your help, idiot, you've just proven to me that I will probably find your... _superior_ knowledge sadly lacking." Kaiba shifted his weight onto the other foot and reached out to grab Jou's collar. If he wanted to get any work done this period and not waste what little time they had left nattering on, they had better get started now, "In any case, mutt, we need to prepare ourselves for the field trip and for who is doing what on our project."

"Eh? Field trip? What are you talking about Money-bags?"

_'Idiot.' _

Thankfully, he didn't have to bring himself down to the mutt's level, _'Though I probably will have to if we're working together' _of understanding, to try and explain the concept of taking one's students out of school to go to a place of significant relevance to help with learning. It wasn't difficult. Though if by what nonsense Yugi was spouting, it was 'fun' and 'exciting'.

_'About as exciting as watching paint dry.'_

Even Jounouchi didn't look as enthused. That did not bode well.

* * *

He'd tried, he really had.

But being civil to Jounouchi just did NOT work when he wasn't even LISTENING!

He'd even helpfully split up the project into two fairly balanced and relevant sides – so that connections could be made between ideas and make it easier to remember and understand. He'd also made sure that their topics didn't mesh together – so 'co-operative', 'team-building' was kept to a professional minimum.

But, _apparently_, that was _far_ too difficult for the mutt as he moons over his friends, like some lost puppy – I don't care what he says, the name 'mutt' does suit him to a 'T', especially if he keeps doing idiotic stuff like this!

He'd had to _shout_ at him, to be understood – if _that_ isn't canine behaviour, I don't know what is.

"You know, mutt, I don't know why I even try to speak to you like a human being, so let's try again: You. Do. Half. Work. Here. Is. Sheet."

There. He'd understand simple commands, the mutt.

"Oi! Kaiba, I told ya'! I ain't dumb! You want me ta' do this half – Easy! I could do't in ma sleep!" It was almost adorable how he really believed that. And he really looked confident, a fire of pasion was burning in his eyes as he snatched the paper out of Kaiba's hand and darted his eyes across the written words, "Tch! Easy!"

_'Right...Of course a mutt would resort to false bravado.'_

"Oh really, then put your money where your mouth is, so to speak, and write it down."

"Now?"

_'Of course now you idiot. Don't waste any-more of my time with this... this... charade!'_

"Well, you did say you already knew the answers – go ahead and prove them to me." Kaiba deftly handed a empty sheet of lined paper to Jounouchi. Kaiba had every intention of milking this situation. It was most definitely the best part of his day.

_'I'm going to humiliate and wipe that stupid look off his face in only a few minutes. It will definitely be a record.'_

However, Kaiba was very surprised when Jounouchi actually started to write things down.

And looking over his shoulder, Kaiba could actually read, through the chicken-scratch, that it was relevant and obviously knowledgeable, if the amount was anything to go by.

The mutt even had the cheek to stall, as he switch from ink to pencil and then proceeded to sharpen it.

It was infuriating, it was smug and most importantly, it was not the actions of Jounouchi Katsuya.

He was certain of it.

Everything he had ever known about Jounouchi, was that he was an ex-gang member with temper issues, but also with a large amount of self-depreciation – he had once overheard him telling Yugi he was upset that he'd gotten hit, once, in a fight against five other hardened criminals! If that wasn't self-depreciation Kaiba didn't know what was.

Intelligence, was another thing the real Jounouchi lacked. And while it could be that the mutt just enjoyed Ancient Greek myths and 'stuff' and learnt that over school-work, he didn't think it was likely.

Especially when he started to name the stuff nowadays that related to Apollo – it was too complete a knowledge, like he'd done it before and knew all the answers.

Something was not right. His suspicions were aroused.

And as Jou carelessly handed the answer sheet over to him, Kaiba barely heard the sound of the bell. Jounouchi was hiding something and he was going to find out.

Even if he had to stalk...follow...Jounouchi around until he found out.

No one could hide away from Kaiba Seto's watch forever.

**A/N 2 - REVIEW!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N ****Sorry this took so long - I just couldn't find a good place to end it. It may even have been longer, if I hadn't got sick of it sitting on m laptop - I'm sure the next chapter will be fine as the otherhalf to this. The other reason for the wait is exams - which isn't a problem anymore, I am now free from exams forever. That's right. No. More. School. YES!**

**Thanks to DaughterofDeath for reviewing!**

**Hope you enjoy**:

**CHAPTER 5.**

Things were not so bad after all.

The morning had brought Jou a new sense of purpose..sort of.

At least he felt better, as he prepared for the day ahead.

That was until he remembered that he had to go on a possibly revealing field trip with Kaiba as his bus buddy.

_'I mean seriously, everybody on this trip_ (barring himself, of course)_ was sixteen!_' They certainly didn't need to 'hold hands' with someone in case they get lost – because how stupid would you have to be to get lost in your own city? It's not like they'd never been to the museum before.

In fact most, if not all, of their class had been to the museum not too long go for the Egyptian exhibit just before the Battle City tournament.

They would certainly remember the very distinctive shape of Domino Museum, it was almost reminiscent of the temples in the old days; symmetrical, with columns on the façade of the building. Strangely, it looked like the face of the Parthenon...Jou believed his sister had had a hand in the building plans. It differed from the temple's, in the fact that the temple-like entrance was elevated by an archway, where the real entrance was. Not to mention the excessive use of concrete, the giant dome of Domino's astrology centre to the far left of the museum campus and Japanese flags. All in all, it was a mish-mash of new and old, and while it wasn't stunning, it wasn't too much of an eye-sire either. For one, the glass did reflect the light nicely and automatic doors were always a plus.

_'So much easier than trying to push a ton of wood open.'_

And it was these thoughts that accompanied Jou during the walk to school, and on the bus next to a silent Kaiba, who was discretely peering at Jou through the corner of hie eyes. Not that Jou noticed in his thoughts, but the rest Jou's friends did. They wondered what could have happened to cause Jou, of all people, to be silent and uncharacteristically pensive, and Kaiba to be so obviously disgruntled and suspicious. It was even worse for Yami, who knew that for such emotions to be actually seen on his reincarnated cousin's face, meant that Kaiba had faced something mentally troubling for him. Meaning; something miraculously unprecedented for any normal person had happened to him.

Yami had trouble fitting Jou into that equation, he was so confused. What had happened between them? Regardless, Yami was of the mindset that all shall be revealed in time, so he sat back and made himself ready for mayhem to begin.

* * *

Upon entering the building, the class was clumped into the corner under the 'supervision' of their Class Rep, as Chono-Sensei and Nobouro-Sensei (who had been dragged along) grabbed the tickets for admission to the new exhibit.

"I'm so excited!" Yugi smiled as he chattered to his friends, bobbing up and down like some small bird as he spoke, "Me and Yami, were researching our god last night, what I read was cool, but Yami kept on saying it wasn't suitable..." he trailed off while glancing over to the beet red Yami.

"Well... it wasn't! Aibou, it was either too violent or too sexual and you're too young for that." Yami said with a frown, which Yugi answered with a dark scowl.

"Too young! I'm sixteen! I may be short, but I'm not stupid or in need of protecting!"

"Yugi, please! Not in front of everyone else!" Yami whispered between his gritted teeth, which were etched into, what he probably thought was a reassuring/humouring smile, but looked more like a grimace.

Their bickering soon continued in a discrete corner, where none of the gang could hear them, but still see and chuckle at them from a distance.

_'Yami is far too over-protective of Yugi – he needs to give him some space'_ Jou thought as the class _finally_ made their way over to the exhibit.

It was fine, a bit boring actually, nothing Jou had not seen before. In fact in some areas it was lacking. Like statues, or weaponry – you know, the interesting stuff. It seems that Domino Museum could only afford basic exhibits; like Mycenaean pots, and not even the 'fancy-stuff', just plain house-ware like the octopus jars, _'I mean, I lived through that stuff – and it's still dull.'_

The glass cases were lined against the walls and horizontally placed in some areas to create an almost maze-like effect. Row upon row of coins, broken pot shards showing Maenads or nymphs, and rusted metal brooches, with the occasional gold piece, filled the cabinets as the class walked pass. It really was low budget, and really didn't show or help people understand the once-splendour of Ancient Greece.

However, something was out of sorts with the rest of the museum. Jou couldn't see it just yet, but he knew it was there.

He especially knew it was there once he saw... _him_.

_'Dammit! What the hell is he doing here? Especially in that get-up!' _As Jou happened to be having just a 'slight' panic attack, the very object of his horror met his eyes and came strolling through the crowds with a large grin on his face – straight at Jou.

"Is that guy coming closer to us?" Anzu looked absolutely horrified by the prospect, "What the hell is he wearing?"

Indeed, the man, for it was most definitely a man regardless of his long, ivy-entwined blond hair and slightly effeminate features (being around Ryou for so long, they could easily tell the difference between effeminate appearances and actually being a woman), was wearing the most obscure dress most of the had ever see. Female garments they were, made of long, flowing fine linen – artfully folded and covered with bands of geometric patterns, it also had what appeared to be the pelt of a panther, casually tossed over one haughty shoulder.

His young face was bright with mirth as he approached the group with wide open arms and an open smile, his shining green eyes crinkled with humour.

"Welcome friends, and family," he winked in Jou's direction as Jou's hand met his face with a slap, "Welcome to Ancient Greece! I am a young actor, a _hypokritēs__,_ if you want the Ancient Greek, performing my very first play as the character of Dionysus in Euripide's_ Bacchae! _Please allow me to answer any questions you may have about my wonderful culture and civilisation." he ended as he began, with a gigantic grin on his face.

The rest of the gang looked starstruck, they just didn't quite know what to say.

___'Heck, I don't know what to say – idiot!'_

Bakura seemed to be the first to recover as he sneered at the young actor.

"What do you mean family? Jou only has a sister, Shizuka." The rest of the gang nodded along with him.

"Besides, I would know if Jou had more family – I'm his best friend and we've grown up together!"

Honda, looked infuriated – as if anybody who claimed that he didn't know one aspect of his best friend's life, would be a dead man. It was actually quite scary.

However, the actor did not look perturbed as he glanced over at Jou, a wounded look on his face. In Jou's mind he looked like a constipated camel.

"I know we've not talked for a while, but to not tell your friends about your own ___brother__?" _The actor took in a deep breath to calm himself and let out a dramatic sob,_ "Oh, Jou,"_

**A/N REVIEW!**


	6. Chapter 6

_**A/N**_**Hey! I hope you all enjoy this chapter - I was on a roll, especially since this was the chapter I've been planning since day one. Seriously. And there's so much more to come!**

**I even managed to get some ancient Greek in here - that's a winner if ther is one.**

**Thanks to WoNdY Alice and DaughterofDeath for their reviews - you two keep me going!**

**CHAPTER 6.**

_"Half-Brother! ____Half__!" Jou's face was bright red with exertion as he glared at his brother, "And dammit, Bromius, I told ya to leave me alone! You're clingy and psychopathic to boot!" _

"Oh, brother, you're such a flatterer!" Bromius coyly fluttered his eyelashes at Jou, "I never knew you felt that way about me. Although," Bromius' face turned thoughtful as he placed a slim finger on his chin, "It does explain why you never answer my calls, or letters, or faxes, or e-mails, or texts, or telegrams, or..."

"Shut up! Gods! You are so weird! And you wonder why I never come 'n visit." Jou, red-faced turned to his friends, "Come on guys, let's get outta here."

"Ah, but Jou..." Yugi, looked rather disappointed by Jou's apparent dislike of his brother, as did the rest of the gang; Yami, Bakura and Marik all looking like they had won the lottery in Blackmail – what was more incriminating than an embarrassing brother.

"Jou... You never told _me _you had a brother... I thought I was your best friend?" Honda looked so lost, it was as if everything he'd known about Jou had just crumbled in front of him.

"Honda," Jou looked imploringly to his best friend, "I promise, I'll tell ya everything later, just not now... I've gotta speak with... _this_ guy...for a bit, find out wha' trouble he's gotten into now."

"Trouble, moi?"Bromius had a look on his face as if butter wouldn't melt in his mouth, "I just came over to welcome you to the museum, as per my job, and offer you all (as Jou's friends) an invitation to my party! Believe me, you've never lived until you've been to one of mine," his smile as he said this would make a shark jealous.

"Oh no! Don't even think about it. No one is going to any of ya parties. Ever." Jou had his arms crossed and the most serious expression on his face any one had ever seen before, "Now get over here so I talk to ya' about why ya don't invade my privacy." That said, Jou dragged his brother across the gallery and swerved around the crowds until they found themselves in a private corner between two display cases filled with geometric figurines.

* * *

"Yugi!"

The gang turned towards the noise, leaving Jou and Bromius to sort out their squabble by themselves.

And there was Grandpa. And another, surprisingly, familiar old man who had a few of his front teeth missing. Anzu, Honda, Yugi and Yami cringed at the memory that returned to them at the sight. It was not in the least their, or Shadi's, finest moment.

"Ji-chan!" Both Yugi and Sugoroku met each other half-way across the museum's gallery floor in a hug.

Upon parting, Sugoroku gestured towards Yoshimori-Sensei and told the gang his participation in the new exhibit.

"You see, it was all Yoshimori-Sensei's idea! He was the one to raise the money and put this whole thing together – and it is wonderful, right kids?"

Yoshimori-Sensei blushed under their scrutiny, but stood proud of his achievements, "Well, really, it was a joint effort, and it helped that many European and American museums, as well as the university, wished to participate in bringing Classics to the Japanese. Besides, it makes a refreshing change from the Egyptology!" He laughed heartily.

"It's great Yoshimori-Sensei! I especially like how you hired that actor to really bring this museum to life!" Anzu said, it seemed as if Bromius had made a real impact upon her, and the others too as the nodded emphatically along with her.

However, Sugoroku and Yoshimori-Sensei didn't look so pleased. In fact, they looked down-right confused. It was Yoshimori-Sensei who recovered first.

"But... I haven't hired any actors..."

* * *

"Από Ζεύς, είστε τόσο ηλίθιοϊ!" (By Zeus, you are so stupid!), Jou punched the wall beside him in anger, "What are you thinking?" Jou really felt as if he was about to explode in anger, "Coming here, looking like that! It's cheating! What if my friends found out about you-know-what?"

"You mean the bet or your godliness?"

"Both! But it wasn't a bet – it was...a challenge"

Bromius, did not look convinced, "Right, so when I said: 'Hey, I bet you couldn't act human for a whole human life-span' and you said, 'I so could, I bet my lyre on it' and then I said, 'Well, I bet on my wine that you can't' and then we agreed on this over the river Styx... you're saying that that wasn't a bet?"

Jou looked very embarrassed.

"Well... only a little one – and besides, I know I'll win, _you _willjust have to start being used to being sober, little Dionysus."

Dionysus, Bromius, did not look concerned. In fact he looked positively nonchalant as he leant on the wall next to Jou, "Psh...not likely, especially when I tell you my news..." the last part was delivered in a rather sing-song manner, but his eyes were serious and calculating.

"Oh?" Jou turned his back to the wall and leant right next to his brother, "And what news would that be?"

"Nothing big, well... unless you count Alecto and the other Erinnyes escaping and going rogue big news. Oh, and your sister's missing."

"What?" Jou almost fell down from the shock, as it was he was glad he was leaning on the wall, because he was sure his knees weren't working properly.

"Well, I was all for leaving you in the dark, in a _weak_ mortal body, but our Great Father wouldn't hear of it."

"_Dionysus_," Jou's tone warned Dionysus off of the jokes, for a while.

"Really though, we're all in the dark on this one. Your sister disappeared... oh, what was it...around sixteen, maybe sixteen and a half, years after we started the bet and we haven't-"

"No, I'm not worried about that, I know where Artemis is. She comes and visits often, she's off on one of her: 'Girls can do things better than boys' stunts." Jou physically waved his hand, as if to (metaphorically) wave away the issue, "This time she's trying to show that she can be more 'mortal' than I can. Ha! As if!"

"So, she's alright then?"

"Sure!"

Dionysus looked visibly relieved, "Good. I'll tell the family. To be honest, with the whole Alecto thing... we thought she'd been forcibly shuffled off the immortal coil, as it were."

"Well, she hasn't."

"Good."

"Good."

The mood between them had obviously turned awkward.

"Well, I'm gonna' head back over to Yugi and the gang, we've chatted long enough as is."

"Yeah, well, I'm gonna' head home." Dionysus straightened up and started to walk to the museum's entrance, until he stopped and turned to face Jou, "Party? I mean, we never have the same atmosphere without you," Dionysus' eyes turned big and soppy, "You're the music to out hearts,"

Jou grinned, this was one of the things he missed most about home, "Get outta' here you loon! Go on! Get! Back to your panthers and leopards and what nots!"

Dionysus laughed as Jou mocked chased him across the gallery – despite the now dwindling crowds – and called back as he left, "Jaguar actually, a Jaguar XJ." And then he was gone.

Jou's smile faded and he walked over to Yugi and the gang, now noticing Sugoroku and Yoshimori-Sensei were there.

Jou suddenly stopped dead as he remembered that he'd forgotten to ask about Alecto and the escaped Erinnyes.

'_Shit_'

Jou realised he had no way of getting any new information until someone from his family randomly turned up again – which wasn't likely in a small town like Domino, now was it.

**A/N REVIEW and Dionysus will personally come to invite you to his party!**


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N- ****Wow! My longest chapter yet! I hope you enjoy this one too - it's another one I had planned from the very beginning.**

**Thanks to WoNdY Alice for reviewing and sticking by this story since day 1! I owe you! **

**Really, please review, otherwise I don't know what yu think, or if you like the fic, or eevn if it is worth contining. If I'm that bad at writing, it is only polite to tell me m faults so I can corret them.**

**Oh well, ENJOY!**

**CHAPTER 7.**

Upon his return to the group, Jou was immediately assaulted with questions from all sides.

"How'd it go with your brother?"

"Did you know he wasn't _really_ employed here?"

"Why the heck was he wearing that...'outfit'?"

"Where's he gone now?"

"Can we go to his party?"

"Why didn't you tell _me_ you had a brother?"

"I thought he was funny, will we see him again?"

Jou took in a deep breath as the questions stopped almost as quickly as they started.

"In order? Fine. Wouldn't surprise me, he's always doing crazy stuff. Again, he's crazy. Dunno. Not if I've anything to say about it. Would _you_ tell people about him? And finally, probably not." Jou sighed in exhaustion, this whole day was tiring, and then he saw Sugoroku and Yoshimori-Sensei – Jou cringed as he remembered how he was the one to knock out his teeth – though if asked, it was all Anzu's fault.

"Oh hey, Jii, how ya' doing?"

Yugi's grandfather looked definitely amused at what he had just seen.

"I'm doing well. Thank you, Jounouchi-kun. Actually, before all this fuss over you brother,"

"Half-brother"

"Yoshimori-san had just invited me, and you kids, down to the basement – where the real project was going on."

All the gang looked at him in excitement, of course they were going to go!

"Ne, Jii-chan, what do you mean by 'real' project, I thought this was it?" asked Yugi tilting his head in curiosity.

_'So did I ... Dang, there goes my hope for a harmless trip. Hey wait minute...'_

Yoshimori-Sensei laughed a throaty chuckle that seemed to resonate the museum over.

"No, no, no, no, no! Come on, I'll tell you about it as we walk down to the basement where it's kept. Follow me,"

They started to make their way, but something was troubling Jou.

"... Hey guys, where's Kaiba and Otogi gone?"

Yugi was the one to answer him.

"Wow Jou, you're really spacey this week! Kaiba left soon after we arrived for a business meeting – I thought he actually looked pleased for once – and Otogi couldn't make it at all for the same reason. It must be hard for both of them to go to school _and _keep a business running. I hold a lot of respect for them."

"Yeah, I s'pose." Jou stuck his hands in his pockets as he walked alongside Honda, "But it don't mean he can act so high-n-mighty, I mean if 'Togi can act ... human, so can Kaiba."

Honda slung his arm around his friend, and smile cheekily at him.

"Ah, but Jou, we all know Kaiba _isn't_ human."

_'What?'_

"He isn't?" Ryou looked over his shoulder at the conversation, looking very nonplussed.

"Oh, no! To the experienced eye, one can tell that Kaiba Seto is in fact a robot."

"What!" Now every body had stopped and turned to look at Honda, incredulous.

"Seriously, Honda," Jou took the arm off his shoulder and continued walking with a grin on his face, everybody else soon following his lead, leaving Honda behind, "Ya' nuts!"

That brought a laugh from everyone.

"Well, I'm glad you kids have settled our problems. Ah! To be young again!" Sugoroku seemed to have dived into his own world, which left the job of explaining why they were _still_ heading to the basement to Yoshimori-Sensei.

"Well, the thing is, as you can probably tell, Domino museum has a relatively low budget. Which means we could have blown it all on the more impressive stuff, like statues and the more famous and artistic vases – possibly even borrowed parts of a temple from other museums, but we decided to do something different. We decided to spend our budget on researching something very new, something only recently discovered in a Japanese excavation of Antissa, Lesbos. That's a Greek Island in the Aegean Sea. Anyway, while there, the archaeologists found a podium after much digging of the back of the cave. And well, you'll see for yourself what they found. It's... it's... it could change the way we think about the Ancient Greeks forever. And that is what makes it so special. And expensive!"

Most of the gang were stunned by the sheer passion in his voice at the prospect of this find. But Jou was nervous. He could swear, he'd heard of Antissa before, and not just as a passing comment.

No.

Something was there, something important, to him especially. Just thinking about it gave a strange sense of melancholy and fondness.

Now, if only he could remember it.

* * *

Finally! They had reached the door of the basement research area.

Who knew that it would be such a long trek? Obviously Yugi and Yami had forgotten to mention it, and judging by their relieved expressions, it looks like they had forgotten it too.

"Oh, my God! I never want to see another stair – EVER – again." Anzu was the one who seemed the most distressed as she flopped to the floor, however Ryou and Honda soon followed after.

"Yoshimori-Sensei, please don't take this as an insult, but how are you not out of breath? What are you some kind of super hero?"

Yoshimori-Sensei chuckled again, it seemed he was in too good of a mood to be anything but cheerful.

"Oh, I suppose when you've worked here long enough, you get used to it. Besides, it's good exercise! Keeps me fit for all those expeditions I have to go on."

"Well, old friend, it was too much for me! I'm going to sit down for a while. Maybe rest my eyes a bit." And then he too, slumped to the ground in exhaustion.

"Oh, Jii-chan, now's not the time for sleeping!" Yugi sighed exasperated, but it was too late, as proved by the loud snores, now coming from Sugoroku's body.

"He'll be fine there, don't worry, only myself and a few other researchers have a pass into this area, and they all know and respect your grandfather."

Yoshimori-Sensei swiped his card through the nearby machine and the door licked open with a flicker of a green lamp.

"Security's tight, as we don't want other archaeologists to steal our findings! But, it's nothing to worry about,"

He pushed the open, almost agonisingly slowly, and revealed... a lot of boxes and shelves.

It was actually quite plain.

There were no giant glass cases, like Yugi and Yami saw the stone tablets in, no visible splendour.

Just row, upon row of shelves with brown boxes. With the odd metal table in random clear spaces, and even they seemed to be covered with boxes.

It was even more boring than the exhibit upstairs. That was saying something.

However, Yoshimori-Sensei, didn't seem to think so.

He herded the excitably through the maze-like room to one of the tables where he arranged them, like furniture, around it.

"Stay right here," He held his hands up, as if he were training an animal, "I'll be right back, I'm just going to get the finds."

He then, instantaneously, fell back into the jungle that was the research room.

Yugi looked at Yami, he looked back. Anzu looked at Honda, he looked back. Ryou looked at Anzu, she looked back. In effect they all looked at each other. It was a very awkward atmosphere.

"Well," It was of course Yugi who tried to break the tension, "This isn't what I expected at all."

"I agree Aibou, this is actually quite dull."

"Dull?" The whispered voice right by Bakura's ear caused him to uncharacteristically squeal and jump backwards in surprise, Yoshimori-Sensei was back with a medium-sized box within his hands, "I don't think so. Here is the remains of one of the most important figures in history, or well so we think."

He placed the box onto the table and carefully opened it. Removing all sorts of packaging like bubble wrap and soft paper tissues.

And very slowly, Jou believed Yoshimori-Sensei had too much of a liking for dramatics and tension, he revealed the human skull that lay inside.

"We have reason to believe, that _this_, is the skull of Orpheus. The most famous and talented musician the world has ever seen.

_'Oh, well, that explains the nostalgia.'_

**A/N2 Reviews will let you out of the maze that is museum storage! :)**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N - ****Hey everyone! Sorry this took so long, but real life caught up with me, as did procrastination... :P**

**I might not be able to update during next week, as I'll be on holiday, but befre and after that I'll try and keep writing!**

**Thanks to Rae37 and WoNdY Alice for reviewing - I hope this, my longest chapter, makes up for the wait!**

**Enjoy! (And Review!)**

**CHAPTER 8.**

It wasn't the most impressive thing in the world, the skull, but its aura was what made it magical.

Waves of energy poured off of the skull to those who had experienced the supernatural in large amounts – meaning all the gang could practically _see_ the physical and colourful evidence of magic.

Yami, Bakura, Malik and Marik, especially were thrown aback by it. They had never seen something this powerful before – it was as if the gods themselves had made this man.

"Sensei, just who was this Orpheus?" Yami decided that the best way to get the information he needed was to be direct, "I do not suppose he was a normal musician?"

Yoshimori-Sensei laughed, in the gang's opinion he was far too happy with himself.

"Of course, he wasn't! In the myths, Orpheus was the favoured son of Apollo, who gave him his famous golden lyre; the musician who soothed both man and beast with his music, called by Pindar, an ancient poet, the 'Father of Songs'. The musician who drowned out the songs of the sirens with his music, upon the ship of Jason and the Argonauts. The _man_, who loved his wife so much, that he went into the Underworld, Hades, to bring her back, and when he failed to do so, he got himself killed by raging Maenads, beserkers of a sort, after he revoked his belief in all the gods, not only because he hoped that he'd see her in the after-life, but also because he felt that life without her was not worth living. Orpheus, was the man, who _even _in death had no peace; as his severed head and lyre was left to float upon the Hebrus, now the Maritsa river, until it found sanctuary in a cave, in Lesbos. And still he had no peace, as he spouted out prophecies to those that would listen, so he could spite his father, who then had to silence his son." he looked round the table to find blank stares, although Jou swore he heard Anzu swoon and say that Orpheus was, 'So, _romantic_!', "Well, of course, I got carried away a bit...but the fact of it is, that Orpheus was an important historical figure, and this skull leads us one step closer to turn _myth_ into _fact_."

Even Bakura looked excited at this prospect – but probably only because he was imagining how much money he could make by stealing and then ransoming the skull off to the highest bidder.

Jou looked at the skull in nostalgia.

Orpheus had died so long ago, so it wasn't as if he was _still_ chocked up about his son's death, but there was personal feelings that lingered upon seeing his child's bones before him – it wasn't as if he was completely heartless, but he also felt conflicted.

As nice as it would be to have his son recognised, thousands of years after his death – gaining very strong Kleos, reputation, from just having physical proof of his existence, it was also rather unsettling to see the dead being paraded about like this.

Especially, Orpheus, who only ever desired peace and rest.

Physically, Jou scratched his cheek to show his contemplation in a mortal manner.

"So, Sensei? When's it goin' back?"

Everyone turned or leaned over the table to stare at Jou, and he shifter uncomfortably.

"Well, ya know... these bodies have all sorts of curses and stuff... they always do, and y'know if this Orpheus guy was so great, wouldn't someone have purposefully hidden him. And wouldn't he, after all that shit with his wife, deserve some rest?...Just sayin'"

Yoshimori-Sensei was the first to snap out of the stupor.

"Yes, well, you are correct Jounouchi-kun. After we have gained all we can from the skull, it will be placed back on its podium, in its cave. Of course, if I know the Greek Government, and I do, they'll probably open the cave up for tourists on tours of the Classical world. For a rather large fee."

Yami seemed to be the only one who was on Jou's outraged wavelength. Bakura, as a tomb robber hardly cared what happened to some dead musician, while the others had no idea of the implications of what exactly Yoshimori-Sensei had said.

"You are telling me that the Grecian government would not only be willing, but _excited _at the prospect of parading one of their greatest men, as some cheap _attraction_? Thereby, desecrating his final resting place and wishes? The gods will never allow this!" Yami had never sounded so incredulous, Jou supposed it came from his upbringing, where tombs were to be kept sacred and untouched. However, he was right, the gods wouldn't. He wouldn't.

"I agree wit' Yami on this one. It just ain't right to do that to someone. Even if he has been dead for, like, ages. It's also probably illegal, I mean it's gotta be, otherwise there'd be bodies of dead kings, and stuff, all over the place."

Anzu, Honda, Yugi, Yami, Ryou and Bakura all looked to Jou in surprise.

"Wha' you all staring at?"

They soon all dissolved into chuckles, Yoshimori-sensei feeling rather out-of-the-loop.

"Nothing, Jou," Yugi was quick to calm his friend, "It's just... you're usually not this interested or knowledgeable about stuff like this."

"Yeah, man," Honda nudged Jou in the ribs with a friendly elbow, "What'ya do with the real Jou, eh?"

Jou frowned, "What's that s'posed to mean, Honda?"

Anzu quickly stepped in before Honda contracted the 'foot-in-mouth' disease, "Jou, you know Honda doesn't mean anything by it; all we mean is that, usually, you like to stay away from anything that involves work or reading."

"Yeah, I suppose...but remember when we were in Egypt," Jou waggled his eyebrows at the confused Yoshimori, to show that he was referring to their trip into the past, and could not speak of it in front of Yoshimori-Sensei, "And we saw all those mummies," a hand gesture followed this to signify the mummies he was referring to were the raised dead, "...I'm just being careful, ya' know how things like this can go."

It was, in the gang's opinion a good point.

_'Besides, if we don't put him back, he'll start crying out prophecies again, and then all those fortune-tellers, psychics and spiritualists like; Rosanna Rogers and even Paul, the fucking, octopus, that I manage as the god of prophecies, would go out of business,(or be eaten) and then I'd start crying because of his crying, and then I'd, very shamefully, end up begging my dead son to just shut up! Again...By Zeus, my life is strange.'_

"Well... rest assured Jou, while I said that's what the Greek government would like to do, considering their recent economical troubles, I also said 'probably', meaning that the World Archaeological Society, or WAS, will probably maintain the same ideas as you do Jou, especially the more ethical members."

Yoshimori-Sensei finished with a smile, and turned down to stare at the almost forgotten skull.

"But you know, it's a shame really," his smile turned melancholy, "Even if this isn't Orpheus, it has already been identified as the skull of a young man, barely in his twenties. And if you look at the base of his jaw, here," he pointed to a straight line that seemed to have been carved out of the jaw bone, "That is the mark of a knife wound, from a slash to the throat – right through the windpipe – it was either suicide or murder; possibly, even, assisted suicide, seeing as the wound shows no sign of struggle. It's so sad, that this young man, clearly in his prime, seems to have just...accepted his death."

The thoughtful silence in the room that had been prevalent throughout Yoshimori-Sensei's speech turned heavy and solemn.

"My apologies, I seem to have ruined the mood," Yoshimori-Sensei looked sheepishly at his watch, while he proceeded to put the skull back in its box and then back on its shelf, "And I do believe, you have to be getting back to the rest of your school group. Especially, when we factor in the long walk back upstairs," Yoshimori-Sensei's smile could only be called sadistic as the whole group groaned aloud at the thought of those stairs, "Come on, you're young and healthy – it should be your Grandfather you should be worried about, I do believe he may even be still asleep!"

They laughed, but they didn't really lose the gloom that the skull had set upon them.

In fact, as they walked back up the stairs, back into the main museum and back into reality; everyone of the gang left with something to think about.

Whether it was the strange energy that flowed off of the skull, or Jou's new, and surprising, appreciation for the dead, no one could deny that it was on this day that everything seemed to change.

**A/N2 Reviews always keeps my muse happy and my fingers writing!**


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N - ****Well... what can I say...**

**I'M SORRY I TOOK SO LONG!**

**Thank you all for reading this and keeping up with this story, even if you don't review - I'm simply hope you're enjoying this.**

**But in particular, thanks reviewers: AtomBunny, SJ95, WoNdY Alice, fanficlover555 and kitty tokyo uzumaki.**

**This one's extra long for you guys.**

**CHAPTER 9.**

It had been three days since the museum trip and, fortunately for Jou, nothing had happened. In fact, it seemed as if school was becoming a lot more boring than usual.

It must have been because the Ishtars had gone back to Egypt, and even though the class cheered as they left; many felt that they had lost the biggest source of entertainment (from their crazy stunts and arguments) they would ever get in school, at least they still had the antics of Jou and Kaiba.

In fact, it was in one of these low-down and dull moments that Jou was confronted by a disgruntled Anzu.

"Jou, not that we don't want you here or anything," although it was quite clear she was irritated by his mere presence, Jou doubted her gormless partner, Kogano Yuuta, helped matters, "But shouldn't you be doing your own work, you know, with your own partner?"

Jou looked at her over his crossed arms as he laid across the desks the group had pushed together so they could all work on their projects at 'one' table.

"But, Anzu, I've already finished my work. And I don't think Kaiba would ever need or ask for my help."

The stares he got from this sentence were incredulous.

Even Ryou coughed a little in embarrassment.

"Jou, I don't want to sound mean or anything... but... are you sure you finished and aren't just skivving off?"

"Skivving?" Honda looked confused.

Ryou flushed, "Oh, you know... bunking off, playing 'hookey'..." At their blank expressions he sighed exasperated, "Not doing what he's supposed to be doing. Honestly, you should be used to the way I talk by now, it's only British slang."

"Right..." Jou sat up properly now, but he still leaned on his right hand, "No really, I'm done. You see, when me and Shizuka were kids, we had to do a project like this for our Mom. She was half-Greek and totally mad on that part of her hermitage..." He looked blank and sat straight up while the others laughed at him.

Yugi stopped giggling enough to inform him he meant 'heritage' not 'hermitage'.

"Right, that's it, well, anyway, she was totally into stuff like that and made sure we knew, like, EVERYTHING to do with the ancient Greeks. I swear, she was such a snob about it sometimes," He shook his head from the 'memory', "So, yeah, that's it."

_'Thank Zeus, I had time to think about this excuse – and that 'Mom' doesn't really exist to refute my explanation. Now all I have to do is tell Artemis some how...'_

"Wow, Jou, I never knew you were part Greek," Yugi and Yami both looked quite stunned by Jou's admission, as did Bakura, Ryou, Otogi and Anzu – Kogano Yuuta was suspiciously quiet and Jou felt it probably had something to do with the way he was hunched over, headphones in ears and his hands jostling under the table with the Nintendo DS.

However, it was Honda's face that upset him.

"Wow, Jou," Sarcasm dripped from his every word and an ugly expression found its way onto his face, "Yet another thing I didn't know about my _best_ friend," He stood up loudly and suddenly everyone in the classroom was now privy to their conversation, "I guess that just doesn't mean as much to you as it does to me."

And he stormed out of the classroom.

Jou was immediately hot on his tails.

"Honda! Honda!"

Honda had already reached the school front doors and upon hearing Jou he slammed the left one open before savagely facing him. Jou nearly ran into him before stepping back a pace.

"What? You're not the only one with a life – I'm busy!"

"Honda, just listen to me, buddy-"

Honda trust his finger into Jou's chest.

"Oh? So now I'm you're 'buddy'? You promised in the museum we'd talk, and I left it at that – thinking you would talk in your own time, but no. It's been days and you still haven't said ANYTHING!"

Jou stood his ground, his anger flaring up.

"Well, what was I supposed to say? You've seen what my half-brother's like! He's a cross-dressing weirdo with a leopard fetish!"

Honda seemed at a loss for words, as if the very wind had been taken out of his sails.

"Not to mention the fact that he's only alive because my Dad had an affair with another woman. I mean how am I supposed to put into a conversation? 'Hi, I'm Jou and my brothers a transsexual bastard?'"

Jou wasn't afraid to admit that at this point he was laying it on pretty thickly.

"Not only that, but I'm not even fully Japanese? Do you know how difficult it is to live where I live, with little ta no money and be a natural blond. I can't even count the number of times I've been called a Gaijin – even though I've lived here all my life. So, I'm sorry, alright? I'm sorry. Please, Honda... don't do this to me... you're my best friend – the best friend I've ever had -"

"What about Yugi?"

"Yugi? Yugi's Yugi, but you've been there for me since we were kids. You're like a brother to me."

"Jou..." Honda looked honestly touched, enough to move over to Jou to hug him. Briefly, before becoming awkward again and moving away. Both boys reasserting themselves in their own 'manly' images.

"So," Jou looked down and scuffed his dirty trainers on the floor, "We cool?"

"Yeah, but I still gotta go."

Jou head nodded up so sharply he might have got whiplash if he'd been really human.

"What?"

Now it was Honda's turn to look sheepish.

"Well, you know my dad?"

"I thought he died when you were really young?"

"Yeah, well I thought so too. Until he called that is. Turns out mom's been trying to keep me a secret from him all these years."

"Ouch."

"I know, man, totally strange, but the cool thing is dad really seems to want to get to know me – apparently he's always wanted a son."

"Oh... well, cool, I guess."

"So, anyways, he's picking me up today and we're gonna pick up some food at Burger World," Honda looked up at Jou, "If you wanna come along I don't mind... I mean, you're like my brother too."

Jou looked thoughtful for a moment before shaking his head.

"Nah, I don't wanna cramp your style, but I will take a look at him. I am an excellent judge of character."

He pushed past Honda and walked down the school steps, regardless of the fact that school wouldn't be out for another ten minutes.

"You?" Honda moved to walk next to him down to the school gates, "A good judge of character? That's news to me." He laughed and moved out of the way of Jou's punch.

"Yeah, I am! Ya got somethin' ta prove I ain't?" He grinned as he chased after his friend to grab him in a headlock.

"Yeah! I do! Years worth of experience!" He moved quickly around a tree to escape Jou, "Remember in pre-school, when you thought that our teacher was a 'real friendly guy' when he gave you sweets after school, and then we found out," Honda laughed, just a little hysterically, at the memory while ducking under Jou's arms, "He was a convicted paedophile!"

"Dammit, Honda! Stand still!"

Jou finally managed to grab Honda by the scruff of his neck and he dragged him back towards him, intending to give Honda the noogie of his life – until he heard the unmistakable rumble of a motor-cycle.

Jou stood still as he slowly watched the sleek, shiny vehicle approached them – Honda and brotherly bonding forgotten.

"Hey," Honda was now back on his feet, "That must be dad, he said he was gonna turn up on his bike – must be where I get my liking of them from. Apparently, dad works as some sort of courier."

The rider wasn't that striking.

It was hard to tell from his sitting position, but the rider looked to be of an average height. He was also neither too skinny nor particularly fat. You could tell he worked on his physique by the subtle abs that were accented by the navy t-shirt the rider was wearing under his leather jacket, but not too much – as his arms were still recognisable as arms, rather than skin covered melons.

His clothes weren't too outlandish either. The t-shirt and jacket normal for a cyclist and the jeans and slightly scuffled trainers well-cared for, but obviously used.

The only thing that did seem odd, was the fact that the driver had yet to take off his helmet, even though he had just gotten off his bike and was heading towards them, and the fact that he had a single reoccurring symbol, of two snakes wrapped around a staff with wings, on both his bike and the breast of his jacket.

It wasn't until he had taken off his helmet, and standing not more than a few feet from him, did Jou finally realise just who exactly it was he was staring at.

**A/N - Well can you guess who it is? Kudos to you if you do, and if you don't you can always ask me to tell and I will - as a sneak peak into what'll happen next chapter! REVIEW!**


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N - ****Hey everybody! This took longer than I thought it would, but it _is _much, much longer than I usually write.**

**I hope you all enjoy it! **

**Special thanks to all who read the last chapter, especially those who reviewed: AtomBunny, Balrog Roike (You're right!), Blue Lagoon Loon, kitty tokyo uzumaki and WoNdY Alice - THANKS!**

**CHAPTER 10.**

The helmet came off. And there stood his favourite brother; Hermes.

He was also obviously wearing a slight glamour.

The bone structure and colouring were the same as he remembered, but the lines and wrinkles that adorned his face were new. Obviously, Hermes had 'aged' himself to suit the occasion.

It didn't take long for the familiar face to crack into a smile.

"Well, well, well. What _do_ we have here?"

It also didn't take very long for Jou and Honda to awkwardly straighten themselves and brush down their clothes.

Honda, vaguely gestured towards the man before speaking.

"Ah...Jou, um...this is my dad." He then placed his arm around Jou and pushed him closer to Hermes, "Dad, this is my best friend, Jou."

Hermes smirked at Jou, before holding out his hand to shake.

"Nice to meet you, Jou." If anything, the smirk grew wider, "Name's Satsugaisha Tsukai. I must say, you are nothing like what I'd thought you'd be from Honda's descriptions."

Honda looked confused.

"Eh? What do you mean, Dad?"

"Oh, nothing bad. Just that, well, when you talked about him...I just never expected it to be _this_ Jou."

Both boys bore troubled expressions from this.

_'What is he playing at?'_

"What _are_ you talking about, Dad?"

A large 'callused' and rose and ruffled Honda's brown hair; hair that was very similar to his own.

"Well, you wouldn't know it, but when I was in school, I was quite good friends of both Jou's father, Jounouchi Tomoyuki and his mother Kawai Himiko." His large grin and sparkling brown eyes then turned to Jou, "Now, isn't _that_ a coincidence."

_'Like hell you bastard! You're totally bluffing!'_

However, Jou never let his true thoughts on the matter take over, as he too forced quite a realistic smile on his face as he replied.

"Yeah! That's cool. Must be fate or somethin'" He then swivelled his head round to Honda and slapped him on the back lightly, "Well, have a nice time. I'll see ya' at school tomorrow, yeah?"

"Yeah, I s'pose" Honda, mumbled.

Jou started to walk back to the school, backwards, as he went.

"Well, See ya'!" And with that Jou was off – until he heard the school bell ring.

All three men stood still in terror as they realised what – or who – was soon to come stampeding out of those doors. Dread filled in the bottom of their stomachs.

Hermes was the first to move.

He grabbed Honda's arm and pulled him over to the bike, where-by he proceeded to shove another helmet to his slowly reacting son.

"Come on, come on! Hiroto, we've got to go. This is no time to be spacing out on me!" Honda looked into his eyes and realised he was right. The helmet was soon covering his face and his arms wrapped around his father's stomach.

"Jou, I'll see you tomo – rrooooooooooow!" Honda's voice trailed off as the bike started off and zoomed down the street. The only thing left in their wake; some dust from the dry pavement and a small golden envelope that fluttered towards Jou in the breeze.

Jou grabbed it quickly upon seeing it and ran towards safety. The only safe place available being the nearby tree – which he quickly shimmied up.

Just in time too, as hoards upon hoards of teenagers burst through the front doors. The streets filled with cars containing parents collecting their offspring and the school buses. Another obvious focal point from Jou's bird's-eye-view, was the large stretch limo, which Kaiba powerfully strode towards. He made no eye contact with anyone on his journey, and the transition from pavement to back-seat, was flawlessly made to look seamless and graceful.

_'Stuck-up show-off.'_

Jou also managed to see his friends, near last to leave the school, as they sensibly hung back to avoid the rush.

He watched as they looked around concernedly, presumably for Honda and Jou, but Jou never made any move to alert them to his presence. He just was not in the mood – especially with the new development Hermes had brought him.

As the gang drifted off home, Jou wondered how he had missed it for all those years.

_'I mean, Honda, does look like his dad. Scarily, similar. How did I miss all the signs?'_

Jou berated himself over this. As well as lamented over the situation.

Did this mean he had to act more... fatherly...over Honda, now that he knew he was he nephew...

_'No.'_

This changed nothing.

If anything, maybe this was a sign from the gods telling him to share his secrets... to...to, get a load off of his chest and speak to somebody about himself...

Jou decided this bared thinking about, but he would presently do nothing, unless the opportunity presented itself.

Jou then looked down towards his clenched fist, down towards the letter he still held in his hands.

On the front, in cursive script, as opposed to the recently more usual kanji, was his own name: Apollo. He recognised the hand writing immediately as his brother's.

For his brother to have written this, to have almost exposed himself, as it seemed he too was pretending to be human, (at least for now) meant that whatever Hermes _had_ put in this letter was important.

With that in mind, Jou jumped down from the tree he was in, brushed himself off and started the relatively short walk to his apartment.

If he was going to get news, good _or_ bad, he was going to be comfortable for it.

* * *

For the Yugi gang and Kaiba, watching Honda and Jou leave the classroom like that had been a big surprise.

Honda, though not the brightest student, was pretty diligent in school and his studies. And Jou, while often late, would never run out of class like that unless there was an emergency.

All, however, thanked the gods that Chono-sensei had not been there to dish out punishment to either of them.

"Well...that was weird."

Everybody laughed at Ryou's attempt to clear the tension in the room, and all the other students settled back into what they were doing before.

The Yugi gang, however, shuffled over into a corner – Kogano Yuuta was surreptitiously ignored and left at the table.

They all huddled into a circle, their projects left forgotten as Anzu asked the first question.

"Okay, is it just me, or has Jou and Honda been acting strange recently?"

"I, too, have noticed their behaviour," Yami darkly muttered, "I thought it were nothing more than just their own personal business, until..." His voice ominously trailed off as he looked over to Kaiba tapping furiously on his laptop, "Until, cousin started to take note too." He looked back at his friends, "Believe me when I say this, it is no light matter when Seth, or Kaiba Seto as it is now, takes note of you. You either have to be a person he recognises as socially superior, or a thing of utmost absurdity."

The blank looks on their faces made him sigh.

"What I mean to say, is that... for Kaiba's, an extraordinary action that deserves his attention, would be for us something extremely impossible or impressive-"

Here Yugi interrupted him.

"Yami, maybe Kaiba was just amazed about Jou knowing all the stuff about the Greeks," Hums of agreement followed this, "I mean, we were pretty amazed, but it did explain some things and answer some questions we had, even before this incident..."

This answer seemed to appease both Yugi and Ryou, but Yami was still frowning and Otogi didn't look convinced either.

"Look, chibis," Both Yugi and Ryou glared at him, "That just don't cut it. Pharaoh's right for once." Yami's resulting indignation was lost as Bakura continued, "Isn't it just a little convenient. We wait a few days after all the hubbub and then he smoothly pulls this story out of his bag?" His incredulous look spoke volumes, "Nuh uh! Not me! This whole incident has suspicious all over it. And I should know, it was my _job_ to be suspicious."

Ryou huffed out in annoyance.

"I don't understand! Why is this such an issue? _I_ haven't noticed anything; 'suspicious',"

"Tch. That means nothing,"

"_Excuse_ me?" The warning in Ryou's tone kept Bakura from saying anything more.

"What the Tomb Robber was trying to say," Yami, in vain, tried to mollify the two, "Is that, lately Jou has shown some unusual reactions to things-"

"Yeah! Remember when we got the class assignments," Otogi finally joined the conversation properly, "He seemed awfully upset about the whole thing, and...and...Remember!" He gestured frantically, "When he was working with Kaiba? Did you see the look on his, er, Kaiba's face? Apart from being funny, it was also completely gob-smacked," He nodded emphatically, "I agree with Bakura on this. Very fishy."

"Not to mention," Now Anzu had jumped on the proverbial band-wagon, "When we were at that museum, forgetting his fashion disaster of a brother, he was totally dreading the trip, and Yoshimori-Sensei's project."

"That skull," Yami intoned, "It was not normal,"

Bakura snorted.

"What an obvious statement, Pharaoh," He smirked, "Let me try one. Jou's reaction to that skull wasn't normal either."

**A/N - Reviews make me happy (and willing to write faster!) :P**

**Also, the first names of Jou's 'mum' and 'dad' I had to make up, since Kazuki Takahashi didn't bother to make any up.**

**Also, Herme's assumed name of Satsugaisha Hiroki, means something. Satsugaisha means 'Slayer', refering to Herme's slaying of the giant and Tsukai means 'Messenger' - neat, right? But VERY obvious of Hermes.**


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N - ****Hey everybody! This story is finally going where I want it to! YAY! That means faster updates...hopefully.**

**Anyway Thanks to everyone who read the last chapter, especially the reviewers: Balrog Roike (You're too right!), Kitty Tokyo Uzumaki (Thanks!), WoNdY Alice (Awkward? You betcha!), AtomBunny (Wait and see...;P) and, last, but not least; IAmDaReviewer (Thanks so much for liking this story! Spread the word!)**

**Hope you enjoy this chapter! Don't forget to Review!**

**CHAPTER 11.**

"_What an obvious statement, Pharoah," He smirked, "Let me try one. Jou's reaction to that skull wasn't normal either." _

"What do you mean Bakura?" Yugi frowned in confusion; Ryou and Anzu's expressions weren't showing much more understanding, either.

"What I mean," Bakura spat out testily, "Is that not only is that skull unusual," Anzu's muttered, "Ya' think" was ignored, "Me, Marik an' Yami were surprised at seeing it, wary even. You chibis," Glares followed this, "And Honda, were curious and upset by the sob-story, though still wary over the magic pouring off it," Bakura's voice quietened and the gang leaned in anticipation, "Our friend, Jou...He didn't seem wary at all. And it's not as if he didn't feel it either, if the pointy-haired idiot could feel that thing, so could Jou. If you'd looked at him, like I did, you would'a seen that he didn't look scared, shocked; definitely, but he looked..." His voice trailed off and his brow furrowed.

"What?" Yugi whispered, feeling the atmosphere had gained tension.

"Jou looked sad-"

Anzu scoffed.

"Sad? We all looked sad, it was a human skull lying there – not to mention that depressing story Yoshimori-Sensei told us-"

"Not like that, wretch!" Bakura barked back, "There was _nostalgia_ on his face. Like, he knew that guy."

They all sat in thoughtful silence, before Yami spoke up.

"I think the question we need to ask is...if what Bakura says is true...what does that mean about Jou?"

"What indeed."

The whole gang swivelled round at the new, but familiar voice of Kaiba Seto joining their conversation.

"Kaiba!"

The Kaiba in question sneered at them before walking away.

"I'd be careful round Jounouchi, I don't believe he's who he says he is."

Kaiba always did have to have the last words.

However, they weren't in vain. Each one of the Yugi-tachi realised that they'd learnt more about Jou's past and family in the last week, than they had in the years they'd known him. That all this had started on the same day Chono-Sensei set the Greek God project, was not a coincidence. Therefore, it was time to start researching.

Yami cleared his throat importantly.

"We need to know more about this, starting with that skull," He nodded his head to Bakura and Ryou, "I need you to research that. Anzu, I want you to start on Jou's family, your father's in the police force, right?" At her nod he continued, "Good, see what you can get," He turned his head to Yugi, "Aibou, you and I will be working on Ancient Greek...stuff, anything that Jou's mother may have told him, maybe there's something there to explain Jou's recent behaviour,"

"Hey, what about me?" Otogi questioned, a bit wildly.

"Oh..." Yami looked a bit crestfallen, "Well..." He brightened after having a sudden thought, "You! You, can take notes on Jou's behaviour,"

"...What?" Otogi stared nonplussed.

"Yami, that doesn't seem like a good idea – you know Jou's never been fond of Otogi ever since the Dungeon Dice monsters incident..."

"I know, Aibou, but Otogi is close to Honda, and Honda," Realisation dawned on their faces, "Is the closest to Jou out of all of us. If anyone knows Jou's secrets, or how to get them, it's Honda."

"Will Honda know about this?" Anzu had doubts about Honda's ability to keep his mouth shut, "I mean, if Jou can't keep secrets from Honda, I doubt, Honda can keep a secret away from Jou."

Yami nodded.

"Honda can't know."

* * *

When Jou got back to his apartment, a lot of questions were running through his head. All of them focusing on the letter in his hand.

Sitting on his bed, Jou opened the letter to find out what his brother found urgent enough to disrupt his bet...I mean vacation.

_Dear Bro',_

It started.

_First of all, let me tell you now; I have money riding on the bet you have with Dionysus. Don't let me down. If you do, well, I won't be responsible for my actions._

Jou snorted here. It was just like his brother to bet on him.

_Secondly, about Hiroto-_

Jou stopped. If it mentioned Honda, _that_ means Hermes must have made this letter up on the spot; using his powers to will it into existence, all of which _meant_ that this letter was very important.

_-he doesn't know about me, but his mother does. And, well, in some ways I'm glad she didn't tell him, knowing Hana-chan, she'd portray me as the devil incarnate, and you and I both know I'm not that bad._

_However, things can't go on like this, Hiroto is special, he's my son, and I'm going to tell him about myself; and, if you don't tell him soon after that, you. Because, if you're really as good friends as Hiroto makes you out to be, then you shouldn't be keeping these sorts of secrets from him._

Jou stared incredulously at the paper, hoping that he hadn't just read what he thought he'd had.

_'I mean, what am I going to do, confess all my secrets to Honda, and then a) expect him to believe me and b) still want to be my friend afterwards?' _

Still in disbelief, Jou read on.

_Apart from that, Jou this is a warning. What The Roaring One said is true,-_

Jou snorted at his brother's nickname. But, then again, it was one of the nicer ones Dionysus had picked up.

_-bad things are coming and you somehow seem to be in the middle of it all. I don't know if you've been told, but there's been unexplained interference by the Furies in the mortal realm, and Our Esteemed Father is...otherwise occupied at present._

That was a polite way of putting it.

_And, well, with Alecto on the loose, don't expect much peace from here on out. There was clear evidence as she left Hades' realm that there are more things going on that does not concern the escapees. None of us know how big this is going to get, so...be careful big brother, it would be completely honest to say that none of us would know what to do if something happened to you while you were playing mortal._

_Hermes._

Jou let the letter drop from his hands.

They were _worried_.

That was bad.

That was very, very bad.

More importantly, why were they all gathering near him? It didn't make any sense, he'd not done anything to warrant such attention in all the time he'd been here. Jou didn't count the Dual Monster battles he'd had, since nearly everyone in the city had some sort of experience with them, mostly from the Battle City Tournament.

And wasn't _that_ an angle, what if it wasn't even him they were targeting? That would be even worse, since then Jou had even less of an idea as to what they were after.

And what was it the letter said? Jou reached down to re-read the note: _there are more things going on that does not concern the escapees..._Now wasn't_ that _ominous.

So, if it didn't concern the Furies, the escapees, and it didn't concern the gods, as no one seemed to have any clue as to what was going on these days, then who was it.

The only people Jou could think of, that would be even remotely threatening to the gods, would be the Titans, and they were locked up safely...right?

**A/N2 - And here's another chapter. Not as long as I'd like, but there you go. It seemed like a good place to stop.**

**Review!**


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N - ****Hey, I'm back and I'm at Uni! This is the reason, why updates have been so slow lately - it's just been a race to pack up, go and then settle in.**

**But I'm here now and classes start Monday. Here's hoping all goes well, and that you enjoy this chapter!**

**Thanks to all who enjoyed and read the last chapter - especially reviewers: **Kitty Tokyo Uzumaki** (Flattery will get you everywhere!), **SJ95**(Thanks I hope you too!), **WoNdY Alice** (I'm sorry this wasn't as soon as we both wanted it!), **Balrog Roike **(Wiser words were never said! On all accounts),** IAmDaReviewer **(Thanks!), **AtomBunny** (You'll see the answers to all...most...some of your questions today!) and...**Animanga-smile14** (Thanks for reviewing, I'm glad to see a new face...I mean user. ;) I'm glad you love it!).**

**Thanks for sticking with this, and Enjoy!**

**CHAPTER 12.**

His biggest problem, Jou mused at school, was that he had too many problems to contend with at the moment. He needed to sort out his priorities, and fast.

The most pressing issue, Jou decided in Maths, was Honda. If he knew Hermes, and he did, he knew he didn't have long to gather his courage, as Hermes like to live fast and work fast. A fact that was probably the reason why he was still a bachelor at his age.

_'Then again, I can't really say anything, considering my own history with love,'_

It was during Sports that Jou decided what to do, after being hit in the head by a baseball, he figured out, while he was flat out on his back, that; 1)Sports was probably not the best time to be spacing out in and 2) He should tell Honda, tonight. Hermes was right. There shouldn't be such secrets from

each other. Beside, this way he could do damage control and save some face.

Yugi's concerned face soon hovered over his.

"Hey, Jou! You alright? You've been spaced out all day, are you ill?"

"Yeah, M'fine,"

Yugi gave an incredulous look at this.

"No, really," Jou got to his feet and brushed his shorts off, "Just sortin' some stuff out in ma head – s'been real crazy lately, y'know?"

Yugi seemed to find this answer acceptable, and with a quick shake of Jou's shoulder in reassurance, he ran off back to the game, where he was up to bat.

Re-emerging himself back into his thoughts, he decided to sort out another of his problems.

Jou knew that his family had to be doing all that they could to stop the Furies from causing too much damage in the mortal realm, but he also knew that if they hadn't stopped them by now, his family probably needed all the help they could get. Even from mortals. And he knew just the people to ask.

* * *

Having asked Honda if he could meet with him after school in his flat, Jou was actually really nervous about what was going to happen.

He was sure, though, that Honda would freak out, Even if it was only at the inconsequential things.

Honda had told him that his Dad was taking him out that night, by Jou had quickly told Honda not to bother. Hopefully, he sounded urgent enough that Honda would come.

Just as Jou heard the door knocking, he also heard the tinny ring of the old phone Jou kept in the kitchen.

Shouting out for, hopefully Honda, to let himself in, he raced to the kitchen to grab the phone, before the other person hung up.

"Hello, brother,"

Shit.

It was Shizuka, he really didn't want to talk with her right now.

"Look, I really can't talk right now, I'm kinda busy...can I call you back?"

He waved Honda, who had been at the door, over to a nearby chair and motioned that he wouldn't be long.

"That's really no way to speak to your sister-"

Jou hung up, already annoyed.

He just thanked the gods that he hadn't said his sister's name out loud, or his cover would have been blown to Honda far sooner than he wanted it to be.

"Hey, Honda..."

Jou stood there awkwardly for a minute in the kitchenette his flat sported.

"Do ya'...want somethin' to eat or drink?"

Honda replied negatively, looking rather out of place, and just a bit irritated at Jou's stalling.

"Look, you sorta' sounded like it was an emergency, so what's the deal?", Honda stood up, "I cancelled going out with my dad for you, so spill,"

Jou huffed at flopped onto nearby sofa, after having vaulted over the divider between the kitchen and living areas.

Honda sat down opposite at this.

"Ah, jeez, I don't think you know how hard this is...I don't really know where to begin..."

Turned out Honda didn't really like this answer either, so Jou tried harder.

"Well, lets suppose, that the gods we're studying in class are real, alright?"

Honda looked incredulous and nodded.

"Cool, and lets suppose again, that these gods rather enjoyed making bets..."

His voice trailed off at Honda's face.

"What?"

Honda started out of his surprise and spoke.

"Well...'rather', 'suppose'...they're not really words I've heard you using before, and you're not speaking with your usual accent..."

It was Jou's turn to be annoyed now.

"Were you listening to a word I said?" He huffed, "Look, I know it sounds crazy, but listen," He paused before continuing, "I made a bet with my brother," Honda injected a small 'half-brother' that made him smile, "You know, the one wearing the dress?" Honda nodded, "Well, the bet was that I could be, essentially, human for a mortal life-time,"

Honda was silent for a moment, before moving over to place the back of his hand on Jou's head.

"What are you doing?" Spluttered Jou.

"I'm checking you temperature, you're obviously ill, you already think you're a god, delusions are never a sign of a healthy person,"

This made Jou struggle further.

"Get off me!"

They tumbled around a bit, before rolling off the sofa completely, where they finally lay exhausted.

Jou turned to Honda in all seriousness.

"Honda, I _know_ it seems far-fetched, and I _know_ I can't really prove it to you without losing this bet I have..." He trailed off, "But if you're my friend, you should really believe me no matter what,"

Honda groaned.

"Oh, god, don't use the friendship card," His eyes finally met Jou's, "I invented that move!"

Jou laughed.

"So you believe me?"

Honda sat up and looked down at the still sprawled Jou.

"I guess I have to now. And it does explain some of you weirdness the past few days, like with that skull and your family,"

Jou gained a smug grin.

"Good. Because I have to tell you something about your Dad."

"What," Honda smirked, "Is _he_ a god too?" He laughed at his own joke, before trailing off at Jou's serious face, "Oh, god, he _is_ isn't he,"

"Yep, he's my little brother, Hermes,"

"Oh, god, so you're my..."

"Yep, I'm ya' Uncle,"

"But, but..." Honda looked so lost, but all Jou could feel was grateful for the fact that his best friend believed him, "He looks so much older than you,"

"Yeah, well, that's due to a number of things. Most of which is that Hermes is very accomplished at making disguises, he _is_ the god of thieves for a reason,"

"Really? I just thought he was a messenger god, at least, that's what I picked up from the interaction he's had with the subject of my project; Aphrodite," Honda's large grin came out of nowhere as he looked at Jou, "This means she's real too?"

Jou didn't really know what was going through his friends head at this point.

"...Yes..."

Honda's grin turned into a leer.

"Have any nude pics of her, you know, as close family,"

Jou's face contorted in disgust.

"Ew! Honda, ya' dog! That' disgusting! She's my half-sister and waaaay older than me!" Jou gagged, "I can't even believe you _went_ there!"

All Honda could do was laugh helplessly on the floor. And soon Jou was joining in with him. It was moments like these that Jou really looked back on fondly.

However, things soon quietened down and turned serious again.

"So, why now," Honda looked troubled, "And why tell me? I mean, Yugi and Yami are rather more important people on the scale of things, and if you're supposed to be acting human, why reveal yourself at all?"

Jou's thoughts turned troubled also, these were the exact questions he'd been asking himself for days now.

"Well, as to why you...firstly, you're family – the son of my favourite brother. You're also a demi-god," Honda gulped at this, "And that makes you far more approachable than any other mortal. Not to mention, of a higher status than Yami, even if he were still Pharaoh. For all they claimed to be 'living gods', very few were actually from our seed, if you know what I mean," They shared a little chuckle over that, "But seriously, not only all that, but...you were my friend before I knew you were my nephew, shit, I only found out about that when you _introduced_ us!" Honda seemed surprised at this, but let Jou carry on, "You looked out for me and we got close to each other," He looked at Honda and in all seriousness said; "You are the best friend I've ever had," And then he smiled, wholly and completely, he smiled as he did when he really meant it – like when he told his mother he loved her; or when he was so enraptured with the music of his lyre, that he forgot completely where he was. Suffice to say, it was a smile brighter than the sun.

Stunned, Honda sat quietly.

And Jou went on.

"As to why now? Well, your father had a few things to say to me about honesty," He cringed here, as the elder of the two, he hadn't really liked being told off by one younger than him, "Besides, I think I need your help,"

**A/N2 - Whoo! What an ending, eh?**

**Hope you enjoyed it! Review! ! !**


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N - Hey! ****Just a quick update, before I emerse myself in Uni work.**

**I'm not sure if I like this chapter...I don't feel it's my best, but it's important for upcoming chapters so I'll deal with it. :)**

**Anyway, thanks for everybody who reads, favs and alerts this story. It means a lot to me.**

**But thanks especially to the reviewers: YourGothicButterfly(Thanks!), Balrog Roike(Haha! Soon you will learn my true master plan! MWAHA****HAHAHAHA!), kitty tokyo uzumaki(Thank ya!), IAmDaReviewer(Thanks, and thaks for recommending me!), Atom Bunny(He did take it well, didn't he...¬_¬) bakura(Thanks, I'm glad you are enjoying it!) annnnnd! Cresent Moon Lady(Thanks, I like to think I'm original too, sometimes...I hope this meets your expectations!).**

**Enjoy and Review! ! ! ! Because knowing what you think keeps this story going and flowing!**

**CHAPTER 13.**

"As to why now? Well, your father had a few things to say to me about honesty," He cringed here, as the elder of the two, he hadn't really liked being told off by one younger than him, "Besides, I think I need your help,"

"Huh?"

This was going to be more difficult than he thought.

"You. Me. Help. Forces of Darkness."

He shook his hands trying to gesture the rest, obviously in vain as Honda stared at him blankly.

"...Forces of Darkness?" Honda gave him an even stranger look then, and Jou didn't really know what it meant, but he couldn't think about now. There was work to be done, "Jou, what sort of forces are we talking about here. Is this another ancient evil thing, that'll try and destroy the world? Or one who'll just enslave us all as the 'Sole Ruler of All'?"

Jou hadn't really thought about that yet. That was why he needed Honda, to be there to bounce ideas off of; to be there to ask questions, point out flaws and offer advice. Just general stuff friends helped out with, really.

_'Except the usual stuff never had the fate of the world on its shoulders,'_

Jou shifted to make himself comfortable for the long talk ahead.

"All I know, and this knowledge is shady at best, since it's from Bromius, is that something is going on here and that we have to stop it. Somehow,"

Honda looked worried.

"That's a lot of uncertainties you got going on there,"

Jou chuckled.

"Well, I've never been known to be straight-forward. You could say I'm the god of vagueness!"

Honda didn't laugh with him. It _had_ been a poor attempt at humour.

"Right, well what do we do?"

Jou thought about what was actually possible for that moment in time.

"We wait. And we listen. And we think. That's all we can do. I haven't noticed anything physically happening yet – except for the Furies escaping, and they've hidden themselves away, so we can't actively go looking for them. Especially with the state I'm in at the moment,"

"Furies?"

A quick glance at Honda showed Jou that his friend wasn't following.

"Goddesses of the underworld. They are the medium through which Zeus' powers of judgement and justice occur,"

"Right. So, the things that your family have let escape, are vengeful goddesses ready to 'right-wrongs'?"

"Pretty much, "

"So...all we have to do is wait for these 'Sailor-Scout' wannabes to make a move?"

"Yeah,"

Honda sighed.

"Sounds boring,"

Jou grinned when a new thought entered his head.

"Hey, Honda," Honda grunted in reply, "Since I don't think any supernatural activities will happen tonight, do you wanna' go play video games?"

Honda's grin soon matched his.

"Yeah," He glanced up to the wall clock, "But only until nine, then I gotta go meet my dad,"

* * *

The next day heralded a bright sun and a dazed Honda.

Jou could see, straight off, that his eyes were glazed and the bags under his eyes showed that this had been going on all night.

He waved his hand in font of his friend's face, when, suddenly, his wrist was sharply grabbed by Honda.

Jou barely had time for his eyes to widen, before Honda had stormed out of the classroom towards the toilets, Jou in tow.

As soon as the door was flung open, Jou had been pushed inside, and he fell to the floor with a bump.

Honda for while only stood there shaking, covered in sweat.

"Shit,"

Jou was confused. He had no idea what was going on.

"Honda-"

"Shit!" _BANG._

Honda had slammed his fist into a nearby wall.

"You're a god,"

Jou smiled slightly despite the niggling feeling in his stomach.

"_Yes_. We went over that last night, remember. Jeez, and I thought I was the elder of the two of us!"

Jou had added that bit to try and cheer Honda up, but it hadn't seemed to work as Honda slid to the ground, head in his hands.

"Oh, my god. It's all real," He glanced at Jou, "Everything, the Gods, the Titans, the Furies, the stories..."

He shook his head silently in disbelief.

Now Jou was really unnerved.

"Honda, I...I thought you were okay with it, I mean you didn't really seem to have much of a problem before-"

"That was when I thought you were off your head!"

Oh.

"What?"

So that had been why Honda had accepted his explanations so calmly. He'd thought he'd been on drugs.

"It explained everything," Honda went on, distant in his thoughts, "Your secret family, your weirdness these past few days, the lies...everything, but I never...When dad told me, showed me..."

It seemed Honda had no words to describe the rest, so Jou crossed the room and sat down next to him.

"What'd he do?"

Honda sharply looked up at him.

"Come on, no one ever believes us these days without seeing something, so. What'd he do?"

Honda took a deep breath, but it was some time before he spoke.

"He...he..." Honda gulped down some air nervously, "He, took me to Pro-wrestling, just like we'd planned before, y'know...'Wrestle Mania', down by the station?" At Jou's nod he went on, "He told me to wait for him – although I didn't really know how we got in, Dad didn't seem to have any tickets, but we did! Front row seats and all, and so I waited, at first I didn't recognise him, he'd changed his face, but I knew him when I saw his eyes, they'd stayed the same, and he winked at me too!" Honda took a much needed breath, "And then he got into the ring, no one stopped him – it was as if this was expected, but it wasn't on the program!" Honda stared wildly around, "He just went into the ring and pile-drived the guy into the mats – and nobody was even bothered by it. It was... it was..."

Jou now looked annoyed.

"Honda,"

"...Yeah..."

"It sounds to me, as if you are only believing in my godhood; thanks to the fact that my brother, your father, beat some sweaty human in some pitiful form of entertainment, that he himself invented,"

Jou was not impressed. Such a small thing as supernatural strength gave Honda the willies? This was not looking good for Jou, who _really_ needed some help from his friend.

Honda stood up outraged.

"Pitiful? Pro-wrestling is an art-form," Jou rolled his eyes, "Besides, anyone would be shocked at seeing their dad, who looks like he would be bowled over by a strong wind, pick up a two-hundred pound man and effortlessly smack him down!"

Jou shook his head in exasperation, trust Honda to only believe in something from that. Just like his dad. Jou bet that any second now, Honda would realise something he'd said before was important and would decide to scream it to the world.

"Wait, invented? My dad invented wrestling?"

_'Called it.'_

"Among other things," Jou rushed in ahead before Honda could ask what they were, "Honda, we need to focus, remember? Possible threat to the universe and everything in it?"

Honda's face fell as he understood.

"But...what can I really do to help, I mean, I know the old plan was gathering info, but...you're a _god_," Honda sort of shuffled back a few feet, "Do you want me to call you 'lord' or something?"

Jou really had had enough of this from Honda.

_'Honestly, it's like we'd never met before and that all those years of camaraderie were for nothing,'_

He pulled Honda down to his level.

"No Honda, I don't," He huffed exasperated, "If I did, I'd be lording it all over the place like Ole Moneybags," They shared a manly giggle between them, "Besides, I like living like a normal person. It's relaxing,"

Honda's face showed his incredulity.

"Well, maybe apart from the odd shadow magic stuff, but even that's relatively peaceful. No one's died just yet. And anyway, I like being anonymous," He stood up and dragged Honda with him, "If I wasn't, I'd never get away with sleeping in class!"

Their laughter followed them out as they headed back towards their first period.

Neither of the two boys noticed that, as they were leaving the bathroom, one of the stall doors opened to reveal a tall and smirking figure.

**A/N2 - Review! It makes my dreary day brighter to read them! Motivate me!**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N - Um. reason this is so late coming? Well, I had this done on Thursday, but FFnet seemed to not want it til now. Then again prostination and Uni work/exams and Christmas have held a large factor too... I'm sorry.**

**At least I never made it to the six month mark - I am very proud of that fact! I will also never leave this unfinished - I've already got it all scoped out! Yay!**

**Thanks to all my readers, but particular thanks to favs and alerters and the almighty reviewers:**

**AtomBunny, TearfullPixie, Lost Inspiration to Write (I feel that way too sometimes; as to your question...;P You'll find out!), Balrog Roike (Damn Straight), kitty tokyo uzumaki (Sorry Sensei is so late! :'-( ), IAmLove, Bakura, Crescent Moon Lady (Sorry it was not ASAP...Will try harder next time!), Kanberry (3 You too!), TheLightoftheLionShrine (Thank thee!), kyothefallenkit (The end is near - but I hope it'll rock your socks off!), Rae37 (Ummm...Soon?), Blue Lagoon Loon ('Dragon-obsessed weirdo', snorts we'll see!), DemonicPudding101 (Puppy eyes? How can I resist thee?) and finally, basestmoto (Thanks, keep reading to find out! XD).**

**Enjoy and review!**

**CHAPTER 14.**

The entirety of the Yugi-tachi, barring Honda and Jou, made it to school extremely early that morning, for their secret meeting.

They felt it both unusual and unfortunate that both Honda and Jou had arrived early too, but this was soon no longer a problem, as Honda dragged Jou out of the room like a sack of potatoes.

They all looked at each other.

The room seemed to still around them as the all nodded in agreement.

Quick as a flash, they'd moved together and huddled their heads.

Yami immediately took charge of the situation.

"Alright, report in – Anzu,what could your dad get on Jou?"

Anzu took some Manila folders out of her school bag and slapped them on the table.

"Absolutely squat," She flipped open those closest to her, "Everything Jou's said is here; from his half-Greek Mom, to his gang-days – and the half-brothers have also checked out,"

Yami nodded.

"Right, Ryou, Bakura-"

"Hang on, Pharaoh," He turned to Anzu, "Half-_brothers_? As in, more than one?"

The group all crowded round the form.

"Well, well," Otogi snickered, "Looks like Jou has not been honest at all,"

On the form clearly stated Jounouchi Katsuya as having several half-brothers from his father's side – Bromius, as they expected; but also an Eric Osner, and a Satsugaisha Tsukai.

"Weird, why didn't Jou talk about the others to us?"

Ryou looked puzzled, but Bakura was the one to snort.

"Maybe he just didn't know they existed, if what this paper is telling me is correct,"

He indicated to a section on another sheet that said:

_The Father has fourteen criminal charges, several of which are for public indecency..._

"While that is interesting, I don't see how it's relevant to your point," Yami's expression comprised of pure superiority towards the Tomb Robber.

"What?" Bakura looked for himself, "No! Not that line the one above my finger, not under!"

It read:

…_.It is noted that the wife, Kawaii Himiko, divorced the aforementioned Jounouchi Tomoyuki, due to his many affairs with varying women..._

"Oh..."

That certainly brought that matter to a close.

"Ryou, Bakura, how was your search for information on that skull?"

Ryou sighed, while Bakura huffed in his chair.

"We got not much more that what Yoshimori-Sensei told us at the museum," Ryou looked helplessly over the table, "Bakura says not even the shadow realm have any information,"

Yami's disappointment, as well as the group's was visible.

"I see, Otogi?"

Otogi shuffled guiltily in his seat.

"Well, you only gave me the task two days ago," His eyes shifted around the room guiltily, "And I _did_ have that important meeting with the Gintou Group..."

He trailed off nervously at Yami's blank face.

"Right, so you have nothing," Yami sighed, but smiled when Yugi gently place his hand on his arm, "Luckily, our research came out better, but still nothing we can really link to Jou," He sighed again, "Just a lot of old stories of love, magic and war; however, we did get a link to Jou's brother,"

"The dress guy?" Anzu enquired.

The grouped snickered.

"Yeah!" Yugi chirped, "Apparently, Bromius, is the Ancient Greek word meaning 'the roaring one' and it refers to the god Dionysus-"

"Wait!" Bakura interrupted a frown upon his face, "So, when he said he was an actor pretending to be this god, he's really a god, pretending to be an actor, who's pretending to be an actor playing a god?"

Everyone's eyes went crossed at this.

"Ummm," Yugi said, "I think it's actually that he's a person who thinks he's a god, pretending to be an actor-"

"Yes, yes! It's all very complicated! Jeez! Don't get them started Yugi!" Anzu sighed, "This is all so weird"

This last comment seemed to sum up their entire secret meeting before class.

* * *

"Alright, Class," Chono-Sensei glanced longingly towards the door, as her make-up started to peel off her face, "Project work, now, I'll be back momentarily,"

She tottered out of the door as if the hounds of Hell were behind her – to the jeers and giggles of the class.

"Aw, man," Jou grumbled.

He moved over to Kaiba with great reluctance, as all his friends slid into their respective groups, only to be stunned by a sudden voice at the door.

"Big brother?"

He turned so sharply, Jou wondered why he did not have whiplash.

"Shizuka?"

She huffed prettily as she glided into the room, but smiled when she wrapped her arms around him in a hug, "I was worried when you hung up yesterday," She looked into his eyes beseechingly, before her eyesight moved around the classroom.

"Oh, hello Honda-san, Otogi-san," She smiled winningly at them as she released herself from her brother. Yugi and the others were soon greeted in an after-thought.

Honda, however, did not wave gormlessly back with a love-struck smile as Otogi did, rather his face paled worryingly.

_'He's probably been told of the horror stories about what she does to men who are attracted to her,'_

"Shizuka, not that I ain't glad ta' see ya'," Which he wasn't, "But what are you doing here?"

She smoothed out her skirt as she sat in a nearby chair, Jou wondered how she could seem so calm in this new environment filled with people she didn't or barely knew – especially since she was in a class filled predominately with men. Men who were all drooling towards her in a way that Jou knew would set Artemis off on a killing spree in any other situation.

"Jou, you asked me to call you – you sounded desperate at the time," She grasped his hand tears in eyes, and Jou wondered how his sister could be- no _act_ so dainty, when he knew she could take on everybody in the room and leave without a scratch, "I wondered why you never called back, so I came to see if you were alright?"

The last part seemed to be a question, and Jou knew that Artemis was genuinely concerned for his safety.

He grasped her hand back just as tightly, and he swore he could hear Kaiba scoffing in the background.

"Yeah, Sis, I'm fine- Hang on," Jou tugged his hand out, "Called? When, I haven't called for weeks – I've been too busy..."

Shizuka looked up in part puzzlement and part hidden aggravation.

"Jou, you really did call me last week...Remember? You asked how I was doing and if I was enjoying myself, and when I would come and see you-"

"Uh, guys?"

Yugi's voice trembled.

"Hang on Yug'," He frowned at his sister, "Sis, I ain't called ya'. No matter what you've heard, it certainly weren't me-"

"Mutt!"

Jou turned his aggression on Kaiba, whose stare was even more chilling than usual.

"What?"

"If you two weren't bickering so much – and if you had a few more brain cells, you would have realised the room has become overly quiet,"

This startled Jou.

He looked around.

It wasn't just silent.

The classroom was empty – and pitch black.

"Ugh...guys? Where'd everybody go?"

**A/N2 - Review! I do so love to read them all!**


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N - Sorry for the lateness of this chapter - things have been hectic! Plus, I just did not know when to end this chapter... Ah, life! :) But, actually, reading this over, I think it's one of my favourite chapters, Yay!**

**Thanks to all who favourited and alerted this story and me, but particular thanks to the reviewers:**

**Teddiccan (Well done you!), FearIsButFearItself (Sorry it wasn't super soon, but here it is!), kitty tokyo uzumaki (Never would I abandon the story! Plus if I'd died, I'd get my friend to say - so no fear, this story will be finished! It's planned and getting close to the end. :) P.S. Yum, Pocky.), Balrog Roike (Zeus is a bit of a man-whore, can I say that without being obliterated? :P But I did give you a clue! Enjoy the chapter.), Crescent Moon Lady (An update! I hope this clears...some... things up for you!), Rae37 (No, no, no, thank _you _for reading, I hope you like this one too!), IAmLove/HumanTestSubject-11 (Thanks for sticking around!), WhiteCrowBlackNest (Sorry for another wait, I hope this one isn't as much of a cliffy as last time, I don't plan them, they just appear out of nowhere! :P) AND FINALLY, MANY THANKS TOO: Knave Hatter Rowan (They're two of my fav things as well, I was determined to do right by them!).**

**Enjoy and Review!**

**CHAPTER 15.**

"_Ugh...guys? Where'd everybody go?"_

_'SHIT!'_

Jou's head spun wildly around what used to be his classroom, but to no avail.

All around was dark; black as the night and twice as deep.

The nothingness was cloying, it stuck to the inside of Jou's throat and filled his stomach with dread.

"W-w-where are we?"

Anzu was looking round too, desperately her arms were around herself – trying in anyway to protect herself from the all-encompassing threat. Honda and Otogi were in similar states.

Yami and Bakura had positioned themselves back-to-back with Yugi and Ryou close at their sides – all had eyes wide with fear and slight shivers.

"I suppose you would like to know, wouldn't you?"

The sweet voice appear from no-where and the sound startled the whole group.

Chono-Sensei wavered into focus from the inky background. Her face was cracked, but she unusually paid no mind to it. And her eyes gave the reason; full of fire, malice and insanity.

"Boys, boys, boys," She shook her head tauntingly, while Anzu and Shizuka glared in indignation – Jou had to admire their bravery in the situation, "If only you had kept you noses elsewhere, then we wouldn't be in this mess would we?"

She seemed to glide forward, regardless of the horror her body was enduring – as at that very instant, the cracks in her make-up quickly oozed a tar-like substance, her hair fell out in great clumps, only to be replaced by writhing creatures ripping out from her skull.

Sulphur choked the air.

"Then again," Her hand reached out towards Jou, liquid terror dripping from her finger-tips, "Maybe not, eh?"

Jou and Shizuka scowled at her. The person in front of them could only be one person.

"What do you want, Alecto?"

Shizuka, no, Artemis' voice was stern and scornful, Jou had no doubt that in other circumstances, it would have been Yami to utter such orders.

Alecto, cackled as her true horror was revealed, leaving all trembling in her nightmarish sight, her snaked hair swishing in sheer glee.

Jou had had enough, as he too spoke his mind.

"Did Hera let you out again?" He sneered, "Is your job to be again faithful lap-dog to the might of Heaven's Queen?"

Alecto's hideous face contorted in rage, her mask of humanity no longer even visible; and her shrieks left her audience pale with fright, as foul wings were ejected from her body.

Everyone bar Jou and Shizuka huddled in fear.

Even Kaiba.

Rather then glory in the moment of superiority, Jou refocused on the enemy as she answered in discordant tones.

"My orders," She spat with venom, "Came from much higher than from you and your kin," She seemed to gain some sort of repose from this as she straightened, her wings cracking with the sounds of breaking bones, "Heed my words, Musician, while our plans have needed some _adjustment_," Her eyes wandered over to the stricken Egyptians, and fixed her monstrous gaze and thoughts upon them,"I almost lost this whole mission, because of you boys," She mockingly tutted as she gestured to her face, but her eyes swung back to Jou, while her body never moved an inch, "I almost thought you would catch me then, but this seems to not be the case,"

As fast as lightning, she swiftly stuck Jou across the face, causing him to fly backwards into the gloom.

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen!" She crowed as she stomped upon his prone body, "Mortal flesh does suit you so, Pheobus,"

A couple more kicks left Jou feeling physically pained, but more mentally tired.

He should have noticed before.

Yami had even cracked her mortal mask with his Shadow Magic – a yet he had subconsciously ignored all the signs. All the wisps of the darkness that filled the void of Alecto's soul – they had been seeping through, always...and he had just ignored them.

She had also set up this whole Greek Gods project thing...but why?

_'What would she gain from exposing me to my friends?'_

A forceful thump from his sister brought him back into Alecto's conversation, it seemed as if he'd missed a few things during his thoughts.

"Well, I best be off," Her steps were deceptively dainty, as she headed off in the direction she had arrived from, "It was fun tormenting you and all, but I've got bigger and better things to occupy my time with," A last smirking glance behind saw her off, "Enjoy your last remaining time on Earth, believe me when I say that it won't be long,"

Her laughter left them all in nervous tatters.

But the room had gone back to normal by then.

All the students were back in their seats.

And none knew, as the Yugi-tachi could tell from their joking and laughter, what had just occurred.

Anzu collapsed to the floor in tears, Yugi and Ryou not far behind, whereas Honda was looking over beseechingly towards Jou, his gaze hopeful, while still concerned over Jou's bruised face.

Bakura was first to speak as usual, although he still seemed lost for words.

"What – what -" Pure helplessness spread across his face as he tried to help Ryou off the floor, "What the bloody hell was that!"

It seemed as if anger had replaced the fear as he directed his attention towards Jou.

"_You_."

Jou never knew how one word could hold so much hatred.

He glanced sheepishly down to side.

"Shall we take this outside, ya know," He grinned lopsidedly, "Privately?"

* * *

Jou took a deep calming breath in, he knew he'd need it for the upcoming conversation.

After the events with Alecto, the group had excused themselves from class, claiming that they'd all stupidly eaten the school lunch food the day before. There was little hassle leaving the room after that announcement.

But the peace did not last long.

"Who, no..._What_ the _Hell_ was that?"

Surprisingly it was Otogi who said this, one hand held to his face in shock.

"More importantly," Kaiba sidled into the conversation, "How did it know you?"

All the gang turned questioning, or in some cases, threatening glances his way.

Shizuka sniggered behind him.

"Well," Jou really did not know how to start this, but he supposed he should come clean already...

_'Nah, that'd just be far too much of a hassle to deal with later. Half-truths will have to do for now; I'll wing it,'_

"Guys, you've probably already realised that something's been going on for the last few weeks-"

"You can say that again," Otogi snorted. The others glared at him for interrupting their hard-earned explanation.

"-But, you see," Jou paused, his brow furrowed in concentration, before his face lit up in realisation, "I've been set a secret heavenly task."

The others stared at him in disbelief, including Shizuka, but Jou was on a roll.

"I was told that I was to remain in the human realm, as a human, to keep an eye out for any supernatural goings-on," He smiled to his friends, "And as you probably realised, I haven't exactly been running out of things to tell them,"

"T-them?" Bakura choked.

"Yeah," A large grin spread across Jou's face, "Them. The Greek Gods – they're real,"

Jou supposed they took it rather well. Although, Honda, and suspiciously Kaiba, were looking pretty smug at the gang's disbelief and wide-eyes.

Yugi, as always, was the first to recover.

"Jou, if they're real, was the guy, your brother, Bromius...?"

He left his question hanging, but no more was needed.

"Yeah, he's the god of wine Dionysus, we're brothers as we share the same father; Zeus,"

The gang looked shell-shocked.

"...S-so," Anzu stuttered, "Your father is the King of the Gods? Does that make you a prince? Who are your really?"

All these questions seemed to run out of he mouth without pauses, but the second question was what made Jou laugh.

"Prince!" He nearly broke down into chuckles again, "I wish! No, father has far too many children to be giving them all places in Olympus, I mean I'm only a minor immortal under the instruction of the another of my half-brothers; Apollo, that's why I'm so knowledgeable about him!"

_'Genius, I'm pure genius. This explains everything to them. I've admitted I'm a god, and only barely lied about my identity to them!'_

Even Honda and Shizuka looked shocked at his flash of ingenuity.

* * *

Ryou was the first to plot things together from this new revelation.

"Wait, so if you're a god, what does this make you?" He pointed to Shizuka who stepped back in response to all the stares she soon received from this statement.

Jou decided she'd had this coming for a while.

"Yeah, Shizuka," Jou smirked, "What does that make you?"

His sister bristled at his mocking tone, but took a proud stride forward.

"While some of us may shy away from the truth, I do not. I know when the game is up,"

She sent a meaningful glance to her twin.

However, this was lost to the group, as, literally, a Goddess appeared before them. Her figure and clothes remained the same, but her posture spoke of power and strength. She was youthful; a young girl in her prime and beautiful in a way that showed that you could look, but never touch. Fitting for the goddess of virginity. Her skin glowed like the moonlight, her eyes were fiercer than a hawk's, but yet held the gentility of a mother; and hair was wild – streaming behind her in a non-existent wind, not to be tamed even by the Laws of Physics.

"I, am Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt."

**How was it? Good? Worth the wait?**

**I'd like to hear from you all!**

**Review!**


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N - Well, sorry for the wait! **

**Things have been rather hectic these last few months - and I had a period of just being completely uninterested in writing.**

**That's all done now, and it feels great to be back!**

**Thanks to all those who fav'd and alerted to my story!**

**Special thanks, once more, to the reviewers: Balrog Roike (Action is definitely coming! And we'll see, we'll see!), ThatOneBassoonist (Cliffhangers? Me? Never! :p In any case most things will be revealed!), WhiteCrow-BlackNest (Err...Sorry for the wait!), kitty tokyo uzumaki (I so wish that plushie was real!), Crescent Moon Lady (Oh...there'll be plenty of barbs in this chapter...), lonewolfgirl-sademo588 (THANKS!), Unknowen (Sorry for the wait - here it is!) and DevilPudding101 (How could I resist the Puppy-eyes? Enjoy!)**

**Read and Review and Enjoy...KAIBA'S VIEW!**

**Chapter 16.**

"_I, am Artemis, Goddess of the Hunt."_

Silence held the group; not to mention, both Otogi and Honda's mouth were gaped open in surprise.

_'Surprising, yes, but why is the Mutt's friend so surprised? I had believed that he was in on it too, from what I'd heard in what this school believes to pass as a bathroom,'_

Kaiba frowned at the scene, as Jou – or should he say Apollo – bluffed his way through an explanation.

_'Those gullible fools will lap up any sap story that they hear – che, fools!'_

"So ya' see," The God continued, "I've – we've – been sent here to pretend to be mortals, so that we may keep track of any supernatural happenings,"

Apollo, Kaiba refused to call him by a fake name when he knew the real one, looked far too smug with himself for this to really be anything but utter bullshit.

And that was ignoring the fact that 'Jounouchi' had never acted like he was on the look-out for anything in his life, until this whole Greek project began at school.

"Getting back to the point then," Kaiba hastily intercepted the inevitable onslaught of mundane questions he was sure would come from the rest of the group, "What is going on and _what_ did our teacher just turn into?"

There.

There was now no way for 'Jounouchi' to try and lose our focus in his tangents.

The person in question glanced towards his sister with an uneasy expression.

"Well, ya' see..." Apollo suddenly became extremely fidgety, "We don't exactly _know_ what's going on,"

"WHAT?"

Of course that loud outburst came from everyone, except Kaiba; never would he lower himself to their level.

However, that does not mean to say he wasn't thinking it.

Apollo tried to placate his crowd with 'soothing' hand gestures that only served to make him look as if he were conducting some sort of interpretive dance.

"I mean, we know bits – but not everythin'," He took in a deep gulp of air to steady himself – not that Kaiba thought it would help his intelligence any, "From what I've gathered these few days, is that the Furies-"

At the plebeians blank faces, Kaiba decided to intervene.

"Lesser Goddesses of the Underworld that deal in judgement and punishment,"

Apollo gave him a strange look.

"What'd ya do Kaiba – swallow a dictionary?"

With Kaiba's stony face as a reply Apollo, finally, got back on track.

"Well, anyway, they've gone rogue – and we don't know why, but the person who turned up just know was their leader – Alecto. The nastiest monster you could ever meet: '_the grief-bringer', 'in whose/ mind are sad wars, angers, deceits, and guilty crimes./ A monster, hated by her own father Pluto, hateful/ to her Tartarean sisters: she assumes so many forms/ her features are so savage, she sports so many black vipers'_-"

"Alright! That's enough, Brother!" Artemis huffed – looking extremely put-out. Kaiba dutifully noted that it must be a usual occurrence for her brother to suddenly burst out into poetry at the drop-of-a-hat.

Apparently the air-headedness was an honest trait, one had not been invented for the character of 'Jounouchi'. That was interesting. It brought up more questions like:

How much of 'Jounouchi' was real? How much was fabrication for the benefit of us _lowly_ mortals?

It was something to think and look out for. In the mean-time, Apollo had gone back to his farce of an explanation.

"Well, anyway, they've all escaped the underworld, with Alecto, and we don't know why,"

The who group looked rather disappointed in the fact that they nothing to go on.

Kaiba bet they were all looking forward to some completely inane quest or other such rot.

"Hang on, though," Otogi called out, Kaiba had to admit he was probably the smartest one in the group. Not including himself – obviously.

"Why are they in the Underworld if they're Goddesses? I mean, in the research we all did, it said that the Gods lived in a place called Olympus which was in the Heavens,"

Surprisingly, it was neither Apollo or Artemis to answer, but the Thief King himself.

"Alecto and the Furies guard the spirits of the dead and those known as the Titans, right?"

The rest of their pathetic group looked ridiculously stupid towards him.

Honestly, had they all forgotten that he and that kid, Ryou, were both allocated Alecto as their history project?

Although, he wouldn't have been surprised if they knew nothing and were counting on leaving their project to the last minute. Not that it mattered any more – what with the teacher going off on a world-dominating rampage.

Kaiba supposed she allocated herself to the group just to laugh at their incompetence. It was certainly something he would never do in her position – to compromise his mission with practical jokes, but he could heavily appreciate the irony.

"How do you know about this, Thief?" Yami questioned.

Even Ryou looked a bit stunned.

Bakura scuffed his toe along the floor.

"Read Ryou's notes," He muttered.

Ryou gently placed his hand on Bakura's arm in a show of sickeningly sweet support.

"If I remember my research right, although I didn't get much done before..." His voice trailed away, as his eyes trailed towards Yami, obviously the group had been doing something else with their time – other than with schoolwork, "Well, the Titans needed to be guarded by the Furies, because if released they would try and regain control of the Heavens from the Greek Gods and in doing so would destroy the universe in the process,"

Apollo looked decidedly glum as he nodded.

"Got it in one,"

Anzu stepped forward, obviously she had had enough of keeping her mouth shut and keeping her irritating opinions to herself.

"Wait, wait," Anzu unnecessarily called for calm in a silent room,"So if the Furies have left, are the Titans going to escape without them there?"

Both of the immortal siblings laughed.

They laughed so hard that even the normally friendly group were looking irritated.

Kaiba, however, was silently fuming.

How dare they laugh at him!

Luckily, it did not take them long to pull themselves together.

"No, no," This time it was Apollo doing the waving to calm them down, "The Furies only guarded them from those who could release them. No, the Titans can only be released by an Olympian God - or by their Item of Power. Which is the same thing really, since a God is never without their Item,"

The Capitals were audible to the ear. There was no doubt in any of their minds that these Items were as important as they sounded.

There was a pause and then Honda spoke up.

He had been surprisingly quiet throughout this whole time – and Kaiba had been wondering why there was a lack of outrage at the fact that 'Jou' had been keeping things from him.

But, Kaiba supposed, that Honda saw the same thing in Apollo's face that he did. That these last few snippets of information were not hidden secrets divulged, but rather chunks he had missed due to seeing them as irrelevant.

"What is an-" He words stumbled for a second before gaining a reverent tone, "Item of Power?"

Artemis took up the mantle as she leaned against a nearby tree – Kaiba had almost forgotten they were outside, but now he knew, he could already feel the glaring mid-morning sun upon his face. Had they really been talking all morning? He hoped he had not missed too many classes – as it seemed as if lunch would soon be imminent and a crowd of juveniles would soon flock towards their current position.

"An Item of Power," Artemis began, shaking Kaiba from his thoughts, "Is a God's symbol. It is not the origin of their powers or the conduit through which they use their powers. But it represents them in some manner and through this can gain similar virtues and an essence of the God,"

Apollo smiled at the group before gesturing to himself.

"Mine is in the shape of my favourite musical instrument!" He lost his smile as he continued, "Although I've had to hide it while I am a human – I know it will never be found..."

Suddenly, Apollo's face lost all colour following his last words.

Slowly, looking older than his years - or probably more like his true years, he turned to his sister. The cheerful and comforting atmosphere of before, had all but disappeared.

She was looking unusually guilty. It reminded Kaiba of when Mokuba had done something extremely stupid – that ended up with both of them in trouble from all sorts of people.

"Sister, where is _your_ Item of Power?"

**Well there you go! I will try my hardest not to let the next chapter take as long!**

**R&R!**


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N - ****Hey guys, sorry it's been so long! It's been a rough few months.**

**I hope you enjoy this chapter - I've had real issues on plot and I don't quite know what should come yet... Hmm...**

**Thanks to all my readers, specially: kitty tokyo uzumaki (Thanks for the support and candy, sorry this took so long!), Balrog Roike (You sure are on the right track, but which one? Dundun daaaa! :P), SaphrontheQuirky (Sorry about the proportion issues...As for Honda, he definitely can take things sorta calmly as Jou has told him more or less what's going on - I also can't seem to help myself with the cliffies. I think I'm addicted :D), DevilPudding101 (Thanks!), Crescent Moon Lady (Thank you so much for your encouragement - I hope you enjoy this one too.) and Ladyofthestar (My thanks to you too!)**

**R&R Please!**

**Chapter 17.**

"Sister, where is _your_ Item of Power?"

Artemis' was pale – her shoulders quivered in nervousness.

Her arms wrapped around herself in reassurance.

"I-I-I-just...I didn't mean too!"

"Sister, what have you done?" There was an urgency to his tone the gang had never heard before – suffice to say, they all felt the dread pooling in their stomachs.

"I wanted to one up you!" She blurted out, and then composed herself with a slight look of shame, "I knew you wouldn't last through your bet with Dionysus, so I came down here to show you how being mortal was really done-"

"You came here to gloat, then."

Artemis glared in his direction.

"I would not lower myself to arrogance, brother," Jou rolled his eyes, but motioned for her to continue.

The rest of the occupants in the room stared at a scene they never would have thought to see – Jou actually arguing with his sister. Sweet, naïve, Shizuka...

Not so sweet after all, if the evil looks she was giving her brother were any indication.

"In any case," she continued, "I left my Item of Power in a place no immortal would ever look for it..."

She trailed off; eyes unsure, but voice firm.

Jou looked relieved – which in turn cleared up the heavy atmosphere. He smiled to the rest of the group.

"Thank the Gods!"

Everyone else (except Kaiba) rushed towards him in happiness.

Group hugs, and manly back slaps, were shared all round, and Jou even managed to place Yugi into one of his famous headlocks.

Kaiba noticed, however, how Artemis had not joined in. Or looked even remotely happy.

"So," Jou had finally tore himself away from his beloved friends, "Go get it, and that way we'll be sure it's protected – as it'll be with you and in our sight," He grinned teasingly at her, "So, where'd you put it? In the Styx? Hidden in the branches of the apple trees in the Hesperides..."

Now it was Jou's turn to trail off.

"Sister, where-"

She flushed in embarrassment.

"I wouldn't have been a very good mortal if I used divine locations now, would I?"

The dread returned to the room instantaneously.

"Stupid b-"

Bakura was immediately silenced by a well-placed elbow to the ribs, courtesy of, surprisingly, Anzu.

Panic crept into Jou's bones.

"Get it now! Before it's too late-"

However, the sudden crashing of thunder high above and the rolling in of massive storm clouds proved beyond doubt that it already was.

Icing winds howled in from the east, causing all their jackets to flap wildly in the wild.

Eyes wide, Artemis popped out of existence, presumably to work out what exactly was happening to her Item.

However, it was already too late it seemed, as Artemis reappeared in a matter of seconds – her shoulders slumped and her eyes defeated.

"Gone..."

She had only whispered, but her single word was louder than a shout.

"Oh, Artemis, how could you be so foolish?"

Jou had meant to sound insulting, but he apparently had, as Artemis glared up at him.

"Well, where did you put yours then, Hmm? If you're so clever?" She spat.

Jou shifted in his space.

"WELL?"

The room was silent as Jou started to blush and continued to fidget. And the storm, raging above, was assuredly not helping matters any

"I think we'd all like to know that, Jounouchi," The room's head swivelled round to Kaiba, who had been the one to speak first, "However, perhaps it can be inferred from your furtive glances towards that tree over there?"

They all, except Jou, looked towards the tree.

There was nothing there.

Except Jou's bag.

"Ha!" Artemis crowed in glee, "You were call me irresponsible – you carry your item around with you and then just leave it unattended!"

Jou rolled his eyes as he tugged his bag back over to the group, his cheeks a little flushed in embarrassment.

"I haven't kept it in here the whole time! Just recently..." Everyone heard an unladylike snort from Artemis' direction, who's superior posture had returned, "...I've been getting bad feelings recently and thought it would be best to keep an eye on it,"

Artemis shook her head.

"You know, you're far too fond of that thing for your own good. If I didn't know you any better..." She trailed off with a sharp smile, "Well, I would be wondering how all you affection manifested itself-"

"Sister!"

The whole gang sniggered at Jou – even Kaiba was covering his mouth in amusement.

CRASH!

The tree Jou had just moved his bag away from had just been turned to ash in a flash of light.

"Crap, end of the world...right,"

Face still set in a frown from the teasing, Jou pulled out his lyre; its original golden form flashing in time with the lightning over head; the strings hummed and pulsed with power.

Those around stared in awe – it was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen.

Elegantly curved scrolls topped the lyre, while every string was equidistant and symmetrical to each other – and gold! Oh, so much gold! Deep and rich, the colour was enough to make any man envy its wealth and purity.

Unfortunately, Bakura was not just any man.

"Holy shit,"

His eyes practically devoured Jou's lyre – his mouth agape and drooling.

"Any chance-"

"Not on your life," Jou gave Bakura a black look and hastily covered it back up,"How about we start to think about the situation we've got? Hmmm?"

'Mortals. So easily distracted.' Jou shook his head in fondness.

"Oh, er, right!" Yugi piped up, "Well, Artemis' Item has been taken,"

Artemis glared, but before she could reply, Kaiba stepped in.

"Correct, the Item has been taken and, more than likely the Titans are being let out by the Furies as we speak,"

"What?" A sudden stream of intelligible voices came from the group, but Jou and Artemis stayed silent, and had turned very pale.

It was lucky they were immortal – or the continuous fluctuations of blood flow may have done them some damage.

"He's right...It was all planned..." Artemis whispered.

"Shit," Jou agreed.

"I don't get it," Otogi reasoned, "How, if Gods keep their Items with them at all times, could the Furies have planned this?"

"They knew about the bet..."

Jou slumped to the ground, his head lowered into his hands, and the world seemed to grow darker. It was probably a trick of the light, but Jou's eyes looked gaunt and empty at the realisation.

Artemis ran her hand through her hair.

"Mine was just an opportunity! They wanted Jou's all along! All my fault..." She straightened up and her features set determinedly, "I'm going to inform the others, don't move!"

And with those words she was gone – swift as a gust of wind.

All the gang turned towards Jou.

"Well?" Anzu turned towards Jou, her hands upon her hips, "Explain, now."

Jou licked his lips – why on earth was his mouth so dry?

"Well..."

Kaiba rolled his eyes.

"Allow me, Mutt," He sneered, "Since you do not have the brain capacity to complete full sentences at this point in time, and from the looks of things, we need to make it quick," He frowned towards the ever darkening sky, ignoring Jou's denial, "Jounouchi here, is serving as some sort of emissary to the Gods, doing a rather poor job of it – which is to be expected. The Titans have obviously been plotting with the furies for their escape, they were probably promised some sort of reward for their cooperation."

"Makes sense," Bakura nodded wisely – to the narrowed eyes of the rest of the group, "Hey, s'what I would do,"

Yami rolled his eyes.

"Cousin, continue. I sense you are on the right track,"

Kaiba sneered.

"To free the Titans, one of these so-called Items of Power are needed, which was nearly disrupted by something Motou did, but they managed to lay their filthy hands upon your sister's. Then there was what she later mentioned, Mutt, about the real target being _your_ Item of Power and something about a 'bet'".

Otogi elbowed Honda at the back of the group.

"I wanna know more about this bet business, eh?" He smirked.

"Yes, yes" Jou huffily agreed, "But a precedent is also needed for the Titans' freedom,"

"Precedent?" Yugi queried, a frown upon his face.

"Along with an Item freeing the Titans from their prison, a precedent is needed to allow any escape from the Underworld itself," Jou rubbed his hand over his face, tired already even though it was only part-way through the afternoon. Not that you could tell any-more.

Besides that Jou was just exhausted from this whole experience – and held a strong feeling (and only that – as he was still forbidden from using any of his power's of prophecy) that there was yet more to come.

"But I've never heard of anyone escaping...Yami!"

Said person jumped as Jou's shout followed a massive rumble of thunder and streaks of lightning flashing across the sky.

War had already begun in the Heavens, and Father was calling them to battle – he would have been a fool not to recognized the earlier destruction of the tree for the message it really was.

_'But if it's not sent by Hermes, it's not official...I can ignore it for now...I hope.'_

"Jou?"

Tossed from his pensive thoughts, he continued.

"Yami, Bakura...how _did_ you guys get out anyway?"

**A/N - As I said, I've been having some plot issues... any suggestions? Thanks for reading this far! **


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N - ****Well... It's been nearly a year since my last update. I'm so sorry to make everyone wait so long!**

**I've just finished my degree, and only now have to wait until my results. The lack of revision and research I now have has done wonders for my motivation and inspiration! **

**Speaking of; Thanks to all my faithful reviewers, followers and favourit-ers!**

**Shout outs to:**

**kitty tokyo uzumaki (Thanks for your ideas, I've had a massive plot hole ever since I started writing this fic and I've only just figured out how to solve it), Balrog Roike (Indeed :D), Miri (Thank you for your ideas as well! I fear we have been in school far too long. To be honest...so have I! TGI Over!), Guest (If this is your profile name, it's brilliant, but as just a guest Thanks for you comments anyway!), and finally: Harvest Dragon (I've gone for a more general perspective this chapter, but watch out for those following! I also think there should have been more myth in YGO). **

**Well, I hope it's been worth the wait, it's nearly all over now. R&R!**

**CHAPTER 18.**

"_Yami, Bakura...how did you guys get out anyway?"_

The two glanced at each other in confusion, with Yami being the first to break the silence.

"My friend, I do not see how this is relevant,"

"Neither do I, but kindly explain anyway so as we can be done with this business!" Kaiba snarled out.

Yami continued rather quickly after that, though not without a small amount of annoyance.

"As you wish Cousin. I was merely within the realm of Paradise, relaxing amidst the Pools of Bliss; happy, but missing my Aibou and my friends; whereupon I was visited by the glorious Goddess Isis, who had been charged with my rebirth. I was quite honoured as I believed myself to be following to footsteps of the great Osiris,"

"Keh, she came to me too," Bakura looked smug.

"That's great though, isn't it?" Honda looked nervous, "That the Gods favoured you enough to bring you back?"

"You would think so," Jou replied, "Except that the Goddess Isis does not exist. You've been duped. And in doing so you were led from the Underworld, and thus created the precedent,"

Grave faces were on all those present.

"So our presence is the cause of this destruction?" Yami ventured, and Jou hurriedly set to reassure his friend that he was not to blame, and that they were all glad that they had had the opportunity to meet once more – when from under the cover of the thunder, the sound of an engine roared in.

"Dad!"

The engine stopped and the man in question strode into the group's vicinity.

"Yo!" He tugged round the bag upon his shoulder and pulled out wrapped scroll, "This is for you," He said as he threw the paper to Jou, "Dad, wants to know whether this is official enough for you,"

"So, you're related to Jou too?" Anzu asked.

"In a manner of speaking," Hermes grinned.

As his other friends began to then enquire Hermes about his relationship to Honda, Jou carefully pulled open the scroll. Dread filling his stomach, as he pre-emptively knew what would be written upon it.

_Apollo,_

_You are summoned to fulfil your duty, and to once more defend against the Titans._

_This is not a request. Prepare you bow for battle._

_Zeus._

Jou wasn't surprised at the lack of sympathy in the letter, it was not his father's way.

But this did mean that Jou was now expected to help defend his godly home – which meant that his friends would be left defenceless. Then again, he wasn't exactly in a position to defend even himself at the moment.

"So," Hermes interrupted, "What are you going to do now then? With the bet and all,"

"There it is again!" Cried Otogi, who up until then had remained silent and still, "What the heck is this 'bet' everyone's talking about! Not to mention the fact that you keep avoiding answering any questions we ask about it!"

"I remember you mentioning something about that when I was round your place as well!" Honda pitched in.

Hermes smirked at his brother clearly loving the situation and ready to see just how Jou could extract himself from this situation.

Jou blushed, and his hand made its way to rub the back of his neck.

"Well, you see guys, myself and my brother...we sorta got a bit carried away one night...and things were said...and well-"

"He bet that he could act human for the duration of a natural lifetime," Dionysus' voice travelled to the gang from a nearby bench, his back still to them, as he held a wine glass in his right hand, "If he wins, I must give up alcohol," His head tilted to the side so Jou could see his profile smirking, "_When_ he loses he must give up his Lyre to me,"

Jou scowled at his brother, whereas Hermes roared with laughter. Yugi, Ryou, Yami, Bakura, Otogi, Honda and Anzu all expressed sudden realisation.

"You mean-"

"Shit!"

"So much for the emissary crap!"

And other variations were some of the only words to gain clarity in the resulting amass of questions hurled at Jou from his friends. Bakura was the first to elbow himself to the front and directly address Jou.

"Ya mean to tell us that, you're actually going to be completely useless in helping?!"

"Is this why we were only ever gonna be gathering information on what was going on?" Honda enquired, "Because you're weak at the moment?"

_'Alright, that's taking it too far,'_

"I ain't weak!" Jou strode forward, and bopped Hermes on the head to cease his giggles, which had at that point led to him crouching on the floor, "I ain't gonna lose this bet," A comment aimed especially for Dionysus, who saluted him with his wine glass, "I ain't gonna let those sons of bitches win, and most importantly" Jou took a deep breath and faced the mortals head on. They annoyed him and drove him crazy, but he would do anything to keep them away from harm. He may not have had the best record of keeping his loved ones safe, but that didn't mean he was just going to give up.

"Most importantly, I am not going to leave your sides," Jou crumpled the summons still clutched in his grasp, his Dad could suck it. He then turned to include his brothers in his speech, "We will fix this. Of that there is no doubt,"

All who were watching at that moment realised that they had been present for something rarely seen on Earth; and their souls felt lightened in his presence.

* * *

"Well! What a family reunion!" Artemis cried.

Otogi jumped several feet in the air as her voice had come from directly behind him. Only this time, she no longer wore even mortal garb, and her flowing dress of pale green was accompanied by guards on her arms, a bow slug across her back with a quiver full of arrows, and greaves upon her shins.

"Holy shit!" He spun round, "Do all you Gods have to just suddenly appear and speak out of nowhere?"

"Of course," Grinned Dionysus, "We get taught that trick in our 'How to Put the Fear of Heaven into Mortals' class in God school. It was almost as fun as the 'How to Instigate Sexual Relations with your Siblings' class,"

"Really?" Enquired Honda, completely grossed out. He shuffled a little further away from his father.

"Of course not," Hermes replied, his eyes rolling in exasperation, "He's just trying-"

"And failing!" Muttered Jou.

"-To be funny,"

"Oh,"

Kaiba at this point had had enough. They'd been arguing in circles for felt like months, with nothing to show for it.

"If you'll excuse my interruption of your insipid comments," He began, "But everyone here is failing to realise that regardless of petty promises, we," he gestured to the mortals of the group, "Have only the little information you have given to us about what is going on – though I seem to be the only one grasping the situation – and you," He pointed at Jou, "Are in fact actually more useless than usual. And in the event that you do provide this group with some sort of godly intervention – you lose this idiotic bet and therefore a good proportion of your powers,"

He sneered towards Jou, who had been progressively tightening his fists with every caustic word. And to think, Kaiba had at least pretended to be on his side not more than a few minutes ago.

Artemis had noticed his growing ire, and so as to prevent the start of another of the infamous Kaiba-Jounouchi fights, she quickly cut in.

"You may all be wondering as to what my return means?"

Shifty eyes abounded.

"No, not really," Ryou muttered.

"Did you not go back to tell Olympus of the state of things like you said?" Queried Anzu.

Artemis shook her regal head.

"That is so, but I told them little they did not already know,"

"So, what's going on?" Honda asked, voicing what was on everyone's mind.

Artemis looked everyone square in the eye. And her following words were solemn in nature.

"Our Father, Lord Zeus on high, has been attending to every word that has been spoken since we all moved outside."

"Have I mentioned what a fool I was in my youth to believe in the Egyptian Dieties?" Bakura hastily put in, "Consider me a complete convert,"

"Kiss ass," Murmered Ryou.

"As..._pleasing_ as that is," Artemis continued, to a background of snickers from her brothers, "What I have come to say is the Father agrees."

It suddenly dawned upon everyone, that since Artemis had been back, the sky had cleared, and by the way the sun was setting in the distance it became obvious exactly how long they'd been outside talking. The sudden change in weather didn't mean that the impending sense of doom had left, in fact, it steadily grew as Artemis laid out the rest of her message.

"However," She said, "We only have three days,"

**A/N - What do you think? Hope I haven't lost my touch after a near-year long hiatus!**


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